Fanatic Obsession
by this-love-is-sirius
Summary: She tried to do the right thing and help the injured man, but she never stopped to think of the consequences. She never thought that she would lose complete control of her life by saving his life. And now it's too late to change the course of her actions.
1. Jealousy

**AN: I don't own anything, except for the characters you don't recognize from the HP series. The plot is also mine. But the rest is JK's. I definitely wouldn't have killed Sirius off, especially since I am carrying his love child, but that's a different topic for a different time.**

**Please read and review. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, and all that jazz.

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**Chapter One—Jealousy**

_I get so jealous that I can't even work_—Tegan & Sara "So Jealous"

"Welcome, students, one and all, to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Dumbledore said in a booming voice, "Before the Feast begins I would like to introduce two new Professors to the Hogwarts home, Professor Sirius Black, who will be taking the position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and I would like to re-welcome Professor Remus Lupin, who will be fulfilling the position as the Charms professor. Professor Flitwick has decided to travel the world researching new charms, so he will no longer be here. But I am glad to have two talented young men with us this year. With that said: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo."

The students' eyes widened at the large assortment of food and instantly began piling food onto their plates.

Daniéle sat happily with her friends at the Gryffindor table, munching on a dinner roll, while talking about the two new additions to the Hogwarts castle.

"The new professor is hot, simply ace," Max said, flipping her black braids over her shoulder elegantly.

"Which one?" Daniéle questioned while taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Professor Black, of course, not that's there's anything wrong with Professor Lupin or anything, but he seems too introverted for me. I like my men passionate—"

"And here I thought you just liked men," Ginny Weasley said impishly, while tucking a piece of her red hair behind her ear.

"_Anyway_, although Lupin is probably passionate, especially around the full moon," she finished wickedly.

"Personally, I think Professor Lupin is the better choice of the two," Ginny stated, casting a glance upwards at her long time friend, "He's polite, has a nice physic, has beautiful golden eyes, that give him this wild, yet, tame appearance, and he has a streak of grey hair going through his lovely brown hair, that is simply dashing."

"Thought a lot about this, eh?" Max asked raising her eyebrows suggestively at her now beet red friend.

"I have not, I was just—"

"Checking out the merchandise?" Max added helpfully.

"Yea—NO."

Daniéle rolled her eyes at her friends' antics, smiling widely, happy to be back at the castle and around her friends; she allowed her eyes to roam the head table. She noted that Snape looked especially sour, even more than usual. Daniéle was about to share this observation with Ginny and Max, but she was stilled when she met a pair of smoldering gray eyes. Her breath caught in her throat and she continued to stare at the man.

"So I'm not the only one who thinks Professor Black is hot," Max whispered in her ear, loud enough for the three friends to hear.

Daniéle blushed and broke her eye contact with the older man. "I guess he's not that bad," she said trying to pass off the ogling as a mere glance.

"'Not that bad?!' Gorgeous grey eyes, olive-skin, silky black hair, and those robes are obviously working out nicely for him."

"Well, it is obvious that he is too old for us and it's also obvious that I am in a serious relationship," Daniéle said beaming and winking at a light brown haired boy at the Hufflepuff table. He smiled dashingly back, making her stomach flip.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Miss I-have-a-boyfriend. Professor Black looks no older than twenty-six, thirty tops; therefore, he is not too old for us." Max said smartly.

"Whatever," Daniéle said continuing to jest playfully with her friends, never noticing the intense looks she was receiving from the very same gray eyes she had lost herself in minutes before.

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Sirius chatted with Remus jovially, happy to be free of the Veil and of Grimmauld Place. His eyes scanned the Great Hall fondly, but he stopped when he was met with a pair gorgeous brown eyes.

He looked fixedly into her eyes for a long time, before she broke the connection, blushing.

Sirius stared at the girl, no woman, he thought as his eyes scanned the small amount of her body that he could see, and if what he saw was any indication about the rest of her body then she had a hell of a lot going for her.

He immediately began to memorize her features. Creamy, caramel skin, big, brown eyes, and beautiful shiny brown hair that hung to her shoulders, a more than adequate bosom, but that was the most he could see from her sitting position.

Sirius was pulled from his musings by a comment from Remus, which reeled him half-heartedly back into the conversation. Although, Sirius conversed with his longtime friend, he still made it a point to keep an eye on his new found beauty, lest she stand and show him the rest of that gorgeous figure.

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The end of the Welcoming Feast, found Daniéle waiting by the entrance of the Great Hall for Leander Fugate.

She watched as he bid his friends farewell and made his way over to her. She smiled warmly at him as he placed an arm around her shoulders. Leander pulled her body close to his and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, telling her how much he missed her over the break.

Daniéle smiled widely at him when they pulled away, allowing him to take her hand and guide her in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.

The two were so happy to see each other that they never noticed the pair of dark grey eyes follow there every move, filled to the brim with jealousy.

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Sirius watched his mystery lady rise from the table and was completely pleased with her full appearance. She was not skinny in any sense of the word, but very curvaceous, and her body was well proportioned.

Sirius then saw something that made his blood boil. _His_ lady was kissing another man, scratch that, boy; he thought with distain he watched the _boy _give _his_ woman a soft kiss. The pansy prat couldn't even give her a real kiss he fumed; although, if he did give her a real kiss he knew he would have to ring his neck.

The dark haired man walked to his room in a bad mood, he all but snarled the password, and kicked his shoes off with force. Sirius stopped himself from breathing a string of curse words, instead trying to understand why this girl was having such a strong effect on him. Sure she was pretty, but he had never even met the girl, which she was, his mind argued, he couldn't even be sure of her age. Because she was young in the face, but older in the body; so, he couldn't even be sure if she was legal.

And even if she was legal, he argued with himself, she was possibly his student, and a relationship with ones student was definitely frowned upon, if not entirely forbidden. But him being the rebellious one that he was made him want her even more, _especially_ if it was forbidden.

He moved into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He was met with the face of his old self from his days with the Marauders, with a few years added to his belt. The Veil was a mysterious thing, so mysterious no one understood why he was alive or why he was young again. But he didn't complain because it was nice to have another chance at life.

'_Maybe that's why I'm affected by her so much,'_ he mused, '_Because I want everything back that was stolen from me earlier in life, particularly a beautiful woman to spend my time with.'_

Sirius stepped into the shower, deciding to push the brunette from his mind, and focus on teaching his classes and enjoying his freedom, by going to Hogsmeade and finding some women who were definitely legal and definitely not his students.

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Disclaimer: 'Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo' is from the movie Cinderella, not from me. **

**AN: Please review. I really want to know what you all think.**

**Her Protector: The next chapter is done, but I'm waiting to get it back from my beta-reader. Please be patient with the both of us.**


	2. Sick Inside

**AN: So I don't own a thing except for the plot and the characters you don't recognize. Please read and review. And also Happy Spring Break!!!**

**REVIEW!!!

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Chapter 2—Sick Inside **

_Now I'm sick inside  
Yeah, It makes me wanna cry  
In the moment it felt so right_

--Hope Partlow "Sick Inside"

"Today class, we will be practicing camouflage spells," Sirius Black announced to his seventh year Gryffindor students. "We will go over the correct annunciations and wand movements in the classroom, but we will perform the actual spell in the Dark Forest."

A few students gasped, but most turned very pale. Sirius chuckled at these reactions, "Class there is no reason to be frightened. I've already mapped out the trail we will be taking and the location is secluded. There is a very minor chance that anything will go wrong," he said giving a brilliant smile to the students, making most of the girls swoon.

Daniéle groaned in frustration, "I knew I should have stayed in bed."

"What's wrong?" Max asked her less than cheerful friend.

Daniéle looked at her friend with aggravation, "I just _knew_ I should have stayed in bed today," she repeated, "First, McGonagall assigns an enormous essay and now I have to go hiking in the woods. I hate hiking and I hate the woods. Something told me not to get out of the bed today, and _you_," she said looking at Ginny, "_forced_ me out of the bed this morning. I blame you for all my troubles."

"Daniéle, what else is new?" Ginny asked rolling her eyes, "You're always blaming someone for all your troubles in life, how's about I blame you for all _my_ troubles in life," Ginny said joking.

"Yeah and mine too, and we blame you for there not being world peace, you dictator," Max said snickering.

"Guy's I'm serious," Daniéle said with exasperation.

"No actually that would be me," a voice said behind the three chattering girls.

The three Gryffindors whipped around and stared at their new Defense teacher.

"Is there something you would like to share Miss. Martin?" Sirius asked looking down at the brunette with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh…no," Daniéle stuttered.

"Well then I'd suggest the three of you pay more attention to my class and deal with your life woes some other time," he said with a slight smile.

"Right," the three girls said in unison.

"Class, Miss Martin has been gracious enough to demonstrate the spell for us before we make our trek into the wilderness," Sirius said with a grand smile.

Daniéle pursed her lips in aggravation, _Yep definitely should have stayed in bed_, she thought as she made her way to the front of class.

"Now, done properly, this spell will allow the caster to blend himself or herself into the background for one minute, giving them time to either make a quick getaway or cast a spell on their opponent without their knowledge.

"The spell is Camuffaggio," Sirius said while demonstrating the correct wand movements. "Now does everyone understand…Good, Miss Martin, if you would be so kind," Sirius said looking at the young woman with veiled heat in his grey eyes.

"Camufflaggio," the class watched Daniéle's body blend into her surroundings, before she promptly reappeared one minute later.

"Well done Daniéle, twenty points to Gryffindor," Sirius said with a light smile.

Daniéle gave a small, embarrassed smile, before moving back to her two friends.

"Wow Professor Black gave you a lot of points," Max whispered to Daniéle and Ginny while walking over Hogwarts' terrain.

"I know and it was such a simple spell," Daniéle said.

"Hey, I say the more points the better," Ginny said shrugging her shoulders.

"Amen to that sister," Max said making the girls laugh.

"Now follow closely behind me," Sirius called to his class.

The class walked for about twenty minutes, before their professor stopped at a clearing. Daniéle looked around the woods with disdain, before looking at the blue sky between the clearing of trees above her head.

"Okay class I would like you to pair up in groups of threes and each person perform the spell and shoot a _minor_ spell at one or your partners. Partners try to find where the person is and deflect the spell." Sirius said.

The students immediately picked their partners and began practicing the spells, while Sirius silently observed. But he paid close attention to the brunette who he had become so taken with yesterday.

The students worked diligently with one another for twenty minutes, before a menacing griffin landed among them, making many students gasp in fear.

Sirius signaled for his students to be quiet, he whispered to them very calmly, "Alright everyone do not make any sudden movements. I want five of you to calmly and as silently as possible retrace the steps we've taken back to the castle. You five go," he said motioning to the five students nearest to the path back to Hogwarts.

"You five next," Sirius breathed quietly.

Daniéle was silently cursing herself, Ginny, and Sirius for putting her in this position; herself for not heeding her instincts, Ginny for forcing her out of bed, and Sirius for leading her in the Dark Forest.

Daniéle was pulled from her thoughts when the griffin shrieked angrily and began advancing on the class. She watched in a small trance as the creature began to advance on the remaining class members, but her dazed brain was able to make out a picture of Garrett, a timid boy, holding his wand in shock, that broke the haze that surrounded her brain.

'_Prat shot off a spell,'_ she thought angrily.

The griffin shrieked yet again and this time Daniéle followed her classmates and began running in the direction of the castle. Or at least she would have ran in the direction of the castle had she not tripped over her robes and fell flat on her face.

"Ow, of all the days to be clumsy," she groaned angrily to herself, before turning onto her back. She noticed that her two friends had fled with the rest of the class.

The mythical creature then screeched once more, before launching himself at Sirius, who had stepped up to the beast in order to protect his class. Daniéle watched in horror as the creature launched his talons into her professor's chest, with what Daniéle knew, from her small readings of griffins, were poisoned.

Daniéle stifled a scream as she watched the ebony haired man collapse on the ground. She lay still hoping the griffin would not notice her. Luck seemed to be on her side because the griffin pushed off on his powerful hind legs, and soared into the sky, with one final screech.

Daniéle watched as the griffin flew away, before scrambling to her feet and rushing over to the fallen man.

Daniéle placed her wand beside of her kneeling form, as she gently removed the tattered robes from the unconscious man's body. The cuts looked ghastly, they went from the top of his chest to the center of his stomach, bled profusely, and seemed to be very deep.

She grabbed her wand and moved to perform the healing charms she had learned from Madam Pomfrey, during her trainings to become a Healer.

But at the precise moment Daniéle went to perform the correct charm (to heal him enough until she could get him to Madame Pomfrey) the grisly cuts vanished.

Daniéle froze. She closed her eyes for a moment, to give her mind a moment to make the gashes reappear. But when she opened her eyes the cuts were still missing.

Daniéle reached her hand out and laid a gentle hand on her professor's chest, ignoring the chiseled hardness beneath her fingers, instead focusing in on where the gashes should have been. Daniéle was so engrossed with his uninjured chest she didn't notice her professor's eyes open.

Sirius opened his eyes slowly and grinned predatorily when he felt the gentle caresses of Daniéle's hand. He allowed his mind to wonder briefly about his well being, before refocusing on the small caresses of the young woman kneeling at his side.

And then Sirius began to have a strange feeling, a feeling that told him to bite her, and bite her rough and hard. Sirius being the obedient man (when it came to himself) decided to heed his inner voice.

Sirius gripped Daniéle's shoulders strongly, making her 'eep' in surprise, pinned her beneath his intense form, growled softly in her ear, before plunging his canine teeth into the soft flesh of her neck.

Daniéle cried out in pain as he bit harshly into her neck. Her breath came in frightened gasps and she whimpered uncontrollably when she heard his feral growl once more in her ear.

Sirius plunged his teeth in Daniéle's neck, not once, but two more times, and with each bite weakened Daniéle's small form.

Sirius moved his face above Daniéle's, and looked at her with soft eyes, before moving his mouth back to her neck.

Daniéle shuddered when her eyes met with steely onyx eyes. She let out a dry sob as his head moved back to her neck and she closed her eyes tightly waiting for the bite attacks to resume. But she gasped in alarm when she felt his wet tongue trace over the bloody marks.

Sirius kissed and licked the gashes he made in her caramel skin, healing the marks tantalizingly, before burying his head in her neck and inhaling deeply, while giving soft nips to her sensitive skin. Daniéle shuddered, making him smile in satisfaction.

"Wh-what did you do to me?" She asked with a shaken voice.

Sirius pulled away from Daniéle's neck, with a smile on his face, before leaning down to kiss her lips. Daniéle moved her head quickly to the side. Sirius growled in anger, which vaguely reminded Daniéle of a lion's roar. The thought was quickly pulled from her mind when Sirius grabbed her jaw with a bruising grip and forced her head in his direction, before kissing her with force.

"You can't do this, it's against the rules. Professors and students can't do this," she said in a desperate voice.

"Those rules don't apply to us love," he said whipping dirt from her face.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked as a tear rolled down her cheek, removing a strip of dirt from her face. "What are you?" she asked hiccuping.

"There's nothing wrong with me love. I'm perfectly fine," he said in a husky voice. "As for what I am," he said with a small laugh, that placed more fear in Daniéle's heart. "I am a griffon and you, my love, are mine. My woman, my love, my _mate_," he breathed softly into her ear.

Daniéle shook her head from side to side in denial. "No," she whispered softly.

"No," she said with more confidence.

The look in Sirius's eyes made her shrink into the ground; he looked positively deadly when she had said no to him.

"You will _not_ refuse me," he said gripping her shoulders hard, making her cry out in pain.

"Professor Bl-Black you're hurting me." She whispered.

"Sirius," he said running a hand over her hair, which was clumped with dirt and leaves.

"What?" she said taking deep shallow breaths.

"My name is Sirius. Call me Sirius," he said moving in for another kiss.

"Sirius, we heard about the attack and we got here as soon as we could—what are you doing?" Remus said quickly.

Remus, stood alongside Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore, and surveyed the scene with confused eyes. It looked as if his friend was about to kiss a student, but he pushed the thought away as his eyes playing tricks on him. _'Even Padfoot's not that daft,'_ he thought shaking his head.

Sirius turned his head to the three Hogwarts' professors, his blackish grey eyes watching them eerily.

"Help me please," Daniéle pleaded from her position on the ground, making Sirius growl lowly at her.

"Professor Black, what is the meaning of this?" McGonagall asked in a stern voice.

"I was having a private moment with my mate," Sirius replied with a rough voice, making Daniéle shake in fear and toss her head from side to side.

"No," Daniéle cried. Sirius eyes blackened as they turned to look at her. He opened his mouth to talk, but he was cut off by Professor Dumbledore.

"Sirius I think it would be best if we got Miss. Martin to the Hospital Wing, and allowed her to get cleaned up," Dumbledore said in a pacifying voice.

Sirius nodded mutely, before standing strongly. Dumbledore nodded with understanding when he saw a griffin with flexed wings tattooed on Sirius' left pectoral. He and the other two professors watched as Sirius swung the frightened girl into his arms and marched in the direction of the castle.

"Don't worry love," Sirius said smiling down at Daniéle his eyes back to their original stunning color of grey, "I'm going to take good care of you."

Daniéle looked at him with frightened brown eyes.

"We'll be so happy together," he whispered to her, gripping her body to his tightly, while walking into the entrance of Hogwarts.

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_"Guy's I'm serious," Daniéle said with exasperation._

_"No actually that would be me," a voice said behind the three chattering girls._

_The three Gryffindors whipped around and stared at their new Defense teacher._

**So I had to add that part, it's so cliche but it made me happy.**

**Anyway this is the part where I beg for a review. So PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. AN: Please Read

**AN: I'm sorry but this is not a chapter. This is more like a review reply which I normally don't do but I feel for this review I will. Please read even if it doesn't apply to you because there are a few things concerning the story in the reply.

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**1) I don't mind criticism**; I really don't because it helps you grow at whatever you're trying to do**. I do not enjoy when people leave, not necessarily nasty reviews, because this wasn't nasty (in my opinion), but I guess the best word to use is criticism but not signing in or leaving an email address so I can defend the story and myself.** If you ask any writer, especially on here, it bothers them, so it's not just me. I'm going to give my opinion on this and I hope it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings, but I think it's a bit cowardly.

**2) My name is not Danielle or any form of Danielle.** To tell you the truth it slipped my mind that I have another story or stories where the leads name is Danielle and by the time I noticed it, it was too late to change Daniéle's (from Fanatic Obsession) because it was already posted. So if the name bothered you I'm sorry but her name is going to stay Daniéle because it's a very pretty name, as is Danielle.

**3) One this is fanfiction, so whatever I write is fiction and it is not cannon because JK Rowling herself did not write this.** Sirius was OOC at the end of chapter 2 because of what happened to him, I am not going to go into detail because it would take away from chapter 3. But I will say this: **It's a type of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. So if you'd be patient you'd see why he was OOC. **And who are you to say what Sirius would or would not do? No one but JK can say that. We as the readers/writers don't know a lot about him, **and again its fanfiction**, and again what he did has everything to do with the griffin attack.

**4)** I'm sorry if you don't like the griffin or soulmate stuff, but that's the story and even if I could change it I wouldn't.

**5)** There is nothing left to say but I'm sorry you didn't like chapter 2/the entire story. I hope you find another story that is to your liking. I'm sorry it wasn't this one, but I can't please everyone and I'm not going to try. **I am also sorry that I almost made you throw up your breakfast; I hope your stomach feels better. If it doesn't I've found that ginger ale, 7UP, or tea help. **

**6) And last but not least, I would like to thank you for your review. I still enjoyed receiving it, even if you didn't like the story. Have a nice day. I know I will.**

**7) I'm sorry to make people think that this was a chapter, I'll update faster because of the misunderstanding. I am sorry. Thank you to everyone who left a review, they made me happy. Have a good one.**

**8) I hope this didn't come off as being angry because I wasn't, and I'm not. The only thing that truly bothered me was not being able to reply to the review. Other than that I was fine.**

this-love-is-sirius.


	4. Powerless

**AN: I do not own anything except for the characters you don't recognize and the plot. I know I don't normally update this soon but I felt that I owed it too you all because of the AN chapter 3.**

**AN Part 2: The focus of this story is a relationship between a student and a teacher. It is also a bit OCC for Sirius (in certain parts), due to extenuating circumstances. If you are not a fan of this type of story, please discontinue reading, as you will not enjoy it. Thank you for your understanding.**

**So onto the REAL chapter 3:

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**Chapter 3—Powerless**

"_But when you feel so powerless, what are you gonna do?"_

--Nelly Furtado "Powerless (Say What You Want)"

Daniéle inhaled deeply through her nose, while moving her head to the right. She winced when she felt an ache in her neck. Daniéle opened her eyes slowly, she cringed when the light flooded into her eyes, making them burn.

'_Why am I in the Hospital Wing?' _she thought drowsily.

"Emm you're up," Daniéle heard a male voice say groggily to the left of her. She felt a hand caress her cheek softly, while turning it in the direction of the speaker.

Daniéle saw Sirius sitting in a seat next to her bed. Her eyes met his and her memory came rushing back to her.

"No…stay away from me," she said backing away from him frantically.

Sirius eyes hardened and he felt a force beyond his control begin to take hold of him. He growled in annoyance and anger as Daniéle continued to rebuff him.

Daniéle continued to back away to the right side of the bed, until she fell off. She grunted in pain as her body came into contact with the hard cold floor.

Sirius' eyes, now black with fury, softened as he heard her cry out in pain.

"Are you alright?" he asked, although his voice was still laced with anger.

Daniéle ignored his question; instead, she focused on a way to get out of the Hospital Wing and far away from her professor.

Sirius, thoroughly annoyed by now, walked around the bed to see Daniéle lying flat on her stomach pulling her body under the bed, with her arms. He huffed, before grabbing one of her legs and pulling her body back to him.

Daniéle screamed in surprise when she felt his hand wrap around her ankle. She grabbed the leg of the bed fighting against Sirius, but he was much too strong and the bed began scrapping against the stone floor as it moved with Sirius' muscular tugs.

"Stop-fight-ing-me," Sirius roared with each pull.

"Let me go."

"Stop this behavior immediately!"

Sirius and Daniéle turned to the entrance of the Hospital Wing to see Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore standing in the entrance.

Daniéle let go of the bed leg, but she found that this was a mistake because once she did she found herself in the strong arms of Sirius Black, who looked gloatingly into her eyes.

She immediately began to thrash in his arms, hoping to dislodge his fierce grip.

"I said STOP! This is a place for people who are ill, NOT a place for rough housing," Madame Pomfrey shouted. "Daniéle you of all people should know better."

A throat being cleared stopped Madam Pomfrey from starting a tirade.

"I need to see the two of you in my office immediately," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes, which was never good.

'_Traitor,'_ Daniéle thought.

"Follow me," Dumbledore said turning and walking out of the Hospital Wing.

Sirius carried a thrashing and protesting Daniéle out of the Hospital Wing.

"Put me down," Daniéle said angrily.

Sirius ignored her, as she had ignored him earlier, and continued to follow Dumbledore to his office.

"I know you heard me. Put-me-down," Daniéle said twisting her body from side to side.

Sirius tightened his grip on Daniéle's protesting body.

"Sirius thank you for carrying Miss. Martin, but you can sit her down now," Dumbledore said cheerfully.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the older man dangerously, but Dumbledore merely looked at him expectantly.

"Fine," Sirius said grumpily.

Sirius sat Daniéle down in the seat which sat leg to leg next to his, and held her hand tightly in his.

Daniéle grimaced, "Look, are you trying to break all the bones in my hand, or are you trying to break all of the bones in my hand?" she asked irritated.

Dumbledore chuckled, while Sirius kissed Daniéle's hand, "I'd never try to hurt you love," he said softly, but his grip never loosened.

Daniéle rolled her eyes in vexation and attempted to cross her arms over her chest, but found it to be very difficult to do with only one arm; so, she merely sighed in aggravation.

"Now I do believe that an explanation is in order," Dumbledore said merrily.

'_You can say that again,'_ Daniéle thought sourly.

"Miss. Martin, what do you know about Griffons?"

Daniéle shook her head in an exasperated way, indicating that she knew nothing.

"Well, Griffons are powerful creatures, powerful but rare—"

Sirius' dry cough interrupted Dumbledore causing Daniéle to send him a look of minor concern and great disdain. Dumbledore, however, continued as if no interruption had occurred.

"Griffons are rare because not many can withstand the powerful and deadly poison that resides in the talons of griffins. As you are aware Professor Black was infected with the poison by the numerous cuts inflicted on him by the talons of a griffin, which turned him into a Griffon."

"I don't mean to sound rude or…uh wishful, but if the poison is as powerful and as deadly as you say it is then why didn't Professor Black die?" Daniéle asked.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at Daniéle, "I'll never let you go love, that's why I'm still here," he said possessively. Daniéle's body flinched at the possessiveness that flooded his voice, but Dumbledore pulled her back.

"Ah, well that all has to do with the ancient Greek gods."

Daniéle smiled with amusement, "The ancient Greek gods?"

"Yes. You see on the day that Professor Black was attacked, Nike, the goddess of victory, was angry with Ares, the god of war. Now being the impulsive goddess she was, Nike acted on this anger and weakened the effect that the poison has on humans, which created Griffons and postponed Ares' victory, which did not make him happy at all." Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"But back to the subject at hand. Miss. Martin, Griffons are extremely jealous creatures, and during the courting period contact with males besides the Griffon is strictly forbidden. Only those who have the utmost trust and respect of the Griffon will be allowed to have contact with the subject of the Griffon's affections."

"What would happen if this happened…hypothetically speaking of course," she added quickly when she felt Sirius' tight grip on her increase to where it was almost unbearable.

"I'd kill him," Sirius said in a voice that told Daniéle that his was serious.

'_Merlin, he's going to try to kill Leander,'_ Daniéle's already troubled mind thought.

Dumbledore cleared his throat bringing Daniéle back to reality.

"Griffons also have extraordinary powers, which allow him to protect his mate."

"Powers?"

"Powers of protection. Since griffins protect treasure, and Griffons regard their mates as treasure, the Griffons possess resources which help them to protect their mates.

"Hmm, what else, right Griffons, like hippogriffs, offend very easily. Furthermore, Griffons can manipulate their mates in order to make them bend to the Griffons will.

"What do you mean _'manipulate,'_" Daniéle asked skeptically.

"Well, simply put the Griffon will cloud their mate's judgment. Making the mate do as the Griffon wishes."

"How?"

"There are a number of ways, but the most popular one seems to be placing the mate under a state of euphoria. This euphoria can be brought in a number of ways, but again the most popular one seems to be pleasure."

Daniéle cringed and closed her eyes in embarrassment.

"Another thing about Griffons is that they chose one mate and love that mate until and beyond death. The myth is that the bond is so strong between a Griffon and mate that they find each other in the afterlife and continue to live in bliss.

"Now, Miss. Martin, out in the forest Professor Black chose you as his mate-"

"Excuse you."

"He has chosen you as his mate, and if you agree then he will begin courting you, which will then lead to him marking you."

"Mark me?"

"It is different for each Griffon and mate, but it seals the bond between the Griffon and mate."

"And if I refuse to let him court me?"

"He will die a most excruciating death because the venom will begin to take hold of his body."

"Oh."

"Now Miss. Martin, I'm afraid that you must make a decision right away, for Professor has a short amount of time left before the poison begins to take hold."

"What? Well how much time?" Daniéle asked frantically.

"Ten minutes to be exact…opps, clumsy me, make that nine minutes," Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"What, no. I don't deserve this. I really don't. I'm a good student. Nine minutes is not enough time to make this type of decision. I don't deserve this. I stay out of trouble…well most of the time and it's not my fault if Ginny and Max drag me around the halls after hours. I'm just an innocent bystander. I swear I am. I need more time. You need to give me more time. You're Dumbledore…I mean Professor Dumbledore and if you can defeat Grindelwald, one of the evilest wizard of all time, then you can give me more time."

Daniéle continued to rant, and she somehow dislodged Sirius' stronghold on her hand, and began to pace around the room.

"Miss. Martin, Miss. Martin, MISS. MARTIN."

Daniéle stopped pacing and ranting and turned to look at Dumbledore.

"I'm afraid I need you to make a decision and I need the answer now. You only have three more minutes, and I'm afraid Professor Black can't wait much longer."

Daniéle looked at Sirius and saw that his breath had begun to quicken and he was sweating profusely.

She watched horrified as he fell from the chair, while clutching his chest.

"You have two minutes left," Dumbledore said tensely.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it. I'll let him court me," Daniéle said softly, sadly, and resolutely.

Daniéle watched as Sirius' breathing began to slow, but her training become a Healer noticed that there were no other signs of recovery.

"Well, Miss. Martin, I am afraid that now you have waited much longer than deemed proper and you must get Professor Black to his quarters, lay him on his bed, and give him a Promise kiss. It is your promise to allow him to court you. The kiss will push the poison back to the safety points in his body, and it will bind you two in this courtship."

Daniéle cringed and looked as if she wanted to protest, but she instead followed Dumbledore's orders. She conjured him onto a stretcher, while listening to Dumbledore's instructions on how to get to Sirius' quarters and what the password to gain access to the quarters.

"And Miss. Martin, you only have ten minutes. The time was extended for that amount of time because you agreed to allow him to court you, but once that time is done, he will die."

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**I got the idea for the black eyes from the GOF movie when Krum's eyes were black because of the spell placed on him. The griffin/hippogriff information can be found through Google as well as the Greek god information. Now the "argument" between Ares and Nike/Nikh may not be found because frankly I don't think it exist, but if you want to research the gods I encourage it because they are really interesting, well to me they are.**

**Now I ask for you all to please review. Please review. Thanks for reading and thanks for not getting too angry about the AN chapter 3. **

**I also want to thank everyone who stuck by me with a certain issue. It is greatly appreciated and I want you all to know how much it warmed my heart. Thanks you so much.**


	5. Through the Veil to the Happy Place

**AN: I don't own a thing, except for the characters you don't recognize and the plot. This chapter has not been beta-read because I wanted to get the chapter out. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you enjoy it too. Read and REVIEW!

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**Chapter 4—Through the Veil to the Happy Place**

_Everybody's screaming  
I try to make a sound but no one hears me  
I'm slipping off the edge  
I'm hanging by a thread  
I wanna start this over again_

_So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered  
And I can't explain what happened  
And I can't erase the things that I've done  
No I can't _

How could this happen to me  
I made my mistakes  
I've got no where to run  
The night goes on  
As I'm fading away  
I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream  
How could this happen to me

--Simple Plan "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)"

"_Sirius!" He heard the alarmed and scared voice shout. His eyes moved to the tall, thin form of his godson, his black and messy hair flailing about as he fought against Lupin's aged form._

_Sirius watched in confusion as Remus kept Harry away, he listened to the words his brother told his godson which caused his confusion to increase._

'_I'm not gone,' he thought vexed. 'It was only a lousy stunner. I'll be alright once one of you revives me' he thought. 'The worst that will happen is that I'll tumble down the stairs and hit my head on the stone floor.'_

_But that never happened. He felt the cool material of the Veil and heard the soft swoosh as his body fell through. 'I've fallen through the Veil,' he thought blankly, strangely detached from the entire situation._

"_I've fallen through the Veil," he thought once again. He knew that he should be alarmed, enraged, even scared, but it seemed that the emotions would not well inside of his body._

_He continued to fall and he watched as the Department of Mysteries faded from view. He could no longer see Harry and Remus struggle against one another. Again he felt as if emotions should stir within, but none came._

_And then everything faded into nothingness, or rather darkness. It was black, pitch black. He could see nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing._

'_It's like swimming in black paint,' Sirius deduced in an awed voice._

'_I guess it could be described like that. It gets a bit boring after the first five years, and extremely lonely after the first,' a voice said._

'_Who's there?' Sirius asked, still feeling no emotion; although, he was sure he should have been feeling fear. 'Where are you?' he asked trying to peer around in the darkness for the mysterious voice. 'Maybe I did hit my head and now I'm having hallucinations,' he thought rather perturbed._

'_I am everywhere, as are you, and I can assure you I'm not a hallucination,' the hazy voice said._

"_God?" Sirius questioned, strangely embracing the idea for divine intervention._

'_Oh no, no, no, no, no,' the voice said cackling madly, 'I'm just everywhere here, beyond the Veil, as are you. When you die you have no need for a body.'_

'_Die!' Sirius sputtered finally feeling emotion; panic._

'_Well, that's not right. You shouldn't be able to feel emotion beyond the Veil, well besides that of loneliness and boredom, and if you think about it those aren't really emotions, are they? Just states of mind.'_

'_I can't be dead; it was only a stupid stunner!'_

'_Well it appears that you may not be after all, you know seeing as you're feeling all of these emotions.'_

'_What do you mean?' Sirius asked as a piece of hope welled inside of his spirit. 'Can hope well inside of a spirit?' he wondered philosophically._

'_Well you can feel emotions. When we are dead we can't do that, we're merely aware that we should be feeling emotions. Like when you fell through the Veil, I was aware that I should feel happy because it meant that I had someone to talk to. I didn't actually feel the emotion,' the voice explained, which now Sirius recognized to be female.._

'_Well, how exactly am I supposed to get back?'_

'_I'm sure you really want the answer to that question, and if I knew the answer I'd definitely give it to you, but I don't, so I can't help you.'_

'_Then what the hell are you worth?' Sirius bellowed enraged._

'_Well each spirit is actually worth a different amount. We don't all weigh the same amount, so in truth I don't know how much my soul is worth. I was a good person when I was alive but worth is determined by much more than how you acted when you were alive. But that's neither here nor there._

'_What we need to determine is how to get you back to the land of the living. And you should know that time continues on without you. It's not going to stop and wait for you to come back. Time also moves faster here, just in case you were wondering,' the voice said happily._

_Sirius listened and he felt himself getting angrier and angrier. 'So what, I'm just supposed to float here or whatever and wait until I can go back?' he asked irked._

'_Yes.'_

'_Is that all? Or are you actually going to be helpful?' Sirius asked sarcastically._

'_Go to your happy place,' the voice said in an overly cheerful voice, which pissed Sirius off even further._

'_What happy place?' Sirius' mind gritted._

'_If you have to ask, you'll never know,' she said matter-of-factly._

_Sirius, instead of replying, tried to calm himself down. 'What would Moony do?' he asked himself softly._

'_Go to your happy place,' the voice sang out._

_Sirius took a deep breath, or he would have had he had lungs. 'My happy place, my happy place…What makes me happy? Well, Harry, of course…' Sirius then began thinking about the times he shared with his godson. He thought of holding Harry for the first time, telling James and Lily what a beautiful boy they had, being named Godfather of Harry, seeing Harry for the first time in twelve years, seeing him ride a broom, Harry agreeing to move in with me.'_

'_When you go to your happy place, you should feel a tug within, and then you'll see,' the woman sang ignoring Sirius' inner turmoil._

'_See what?' Sirius questioned. Sirius pushed the question aside as he let his mind carry on._

_Sirius' mind continued to wander as he thought of the Potters and how they welcomed him into their family, he thought of the love his Uncle Alphard and cousin Andromeda gave him even after he was disowned by his parents. He thought of the kinship he experienced with James and Remus, and then it hit Sirius. His happy place was having a family. A real family of his own, people who would love him unconditionally and give him the gratification he needed, the love and gratification he never received from his parents. Sirius thought of finding a woman who would give him this love and gratification, he thought of the two having children together, giving Harry a niece or nephew, and naming Remus the godfather. He thought of his children calling him daddy, and he knew that he would love them for life._

_Sirius' mind wandered to the thought of finally being able to love freely, without the complications of being a convicted felon. His mind stopped on freedom._

'_I'd simply be free.'_

_And then Sirius felt the tug._

_And he smiled as he saw a little girl singing and dancing with pigtails._

_And then he felt the warmth of soft lips upon his._

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**PLEASE REVIEW! I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter because I had a fantastic time writing it. Thanks so much and please REVIEW!**

**REVIEW REPLIES TO THOSE WHO DIDN'T LEAVE A WAY TO REPLY:**

**_Sarah P._--**I am still developing Daniele as a character, so in time you will see that she is not perfect. Just because she has a decent figure doesn't mean she is perfect (it wasn't meant to sound "hawt" but merely average), nor does the fact that she has a boyfriend. And I wasn't aware that her being friends with Ginny Weasley made her a Mary-Sue. We know nothing about Ginny's friends, except for Luna and the Golden Trio, so I decided to make some friends for her. And just because she is a semi-good student doesn't make her a Mary-Sue either. She is studying to be a Healer, and if you go to the Harry Potter Lexicon you will see that training to be a Healer means you have to get at least E's in most of the subjects. And the spell wasn't complicated, she studies.

Ginny isn't an intricate part of the story; although, she does play a role. In truth I can't stand Ginny as a character, I think she is a huge fangirl and I don't like her. And had you given me the chance you would have discovered how Sirius returned from the Veil (it is an entire chapter as seen above). It really bothers me that people expect me to put everything in the first chapter, please _give me time to develop the story. _JK Rowling didn't say how Sirius escaped from Azkaban until close to the end of PoA, but we all gave her time to develop the story, all I ask for is the same courtesy.

Had you read the AN at the beginning of the 3rd chapter you would have read that Sirius is a bit OOC at parts (it was also mentioned in the AN chapter).

Since Harry is off living his own life he doesn't need to be Sirius' only priority. Of course they have a close bond still. Again if given time it will be shown. And Harry was Sirius' main priority when he didn't have any other priorities. Don't you think that Harry would want Sirius to find someone to spend his life with?

Sirius wasn't happy because he was always imprisoned, but when it is seen that when he had people to spend his time with he was a happy person (see OotP). It is also seen in OotP that Sirius wasn't always a depressed and morose person (see when Harry looks at Snape's Worst Memory). And of course the story is AU because Sirius and Dumbledore are alive. How could it not be AU?

I have never heard of a griffin/griffon being a type of dog. If you google 'griffin' then you will see the information. Griffons to the best of my knowledge don't exist, I made them up. And every search I've ever done concerning griffins has brought up a creature that had the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, although there have been variations of the type of animals, for instance, I once saw that it was a reptilian body, but I forget what type of head. Google it, you will find it.

The tattoo was the result of the griffin attack, I'm sorry if that wasn't clear. As for the reason why Sirius acted the way he did in the first chapter, I always saw Sirius as being a jealous person; therefore, him seeing a girl he was attracted to with another guy would cause a jealous reaction. Him not killing Leander is the difference between pre-attacked Sirius and post-attacked Sirius. Sirius getting jealous when he saw Daniele with Leander was not him acting under the griffin curse because he hadn't been infected yet. But it was him letting his emotions take control of him. Most people get jealous when they see the person they're attracted to with someone else, its human nature. Sirius was merely acting under the influence of this emotion. I see Sirius as being an Aries, if you search Aries (zodiac sign) then you will see how I am portraying him.

Students not reacting negatively to seeing Sirius teaching at Hogwarts is simple: Sirius was cleared of all charges in the 6th book, and it is my opinion that news travels fast in the Wizarding World, especially with Rita Skeeter's around.

And I apologize on the word confusion. I looked over it as well as my beta-reader, obviously we didn't catch it. It was an unintended error, every writer has them, even JK Rowling herself, I am human and allowed to make mistakes.

**I didn't mean to be long winded but you made a lot of points and I wanted to address them. Thanks for reading the story.**

**I want to thank everyone for sticking with me this far. I love you all. Please REVIEW!**


	6. Tears in the Dark

**AN: I don't own anything, but the plot and the characters you don't revognize. Again Sirius may appear a bit OOC, but it's all for a good reason, just be patient.

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Chapter 5—Tears in the Dark **

Daniéle led a shaking and shuddering Sirius back to his quarters. She quickly said the password, and laid his sweaty form onto the dark blue sheets on his bed.

Daniéle wiped the sweat from his brow with a rag she conjured, and hesitantly lowered her lips to his. She stopped millimeters from his lips, contemplating where she was in her life now, and the turn her life would take should she decide to kiss Sirius.

Daniéle pulled her body back from Sirius' slowly and stared at his sweaty figure, lost in a trance.

'_Could you live with yourself if you let him die?'_ she questioned herself.

'_Could you live with him if you let him court you? What about Leander, how can you promise to let some man court you while you're still dating him?'_

Daniéle closed her eyes in frustration. She didn't know any of the answers to the questions that plagued her mind. She needed help and answers fast.

A shuddering and shaking breath from Sirius pulled her from her reverie. Daniéle closed her eyes in defeat and lowered her lips onto Sirius' softly.

'_I'll never have peace if I let him die,'_ she thought sadly. Because she knew she'd never be at peace with herself or with the entire female wizarding population.

Sirius felt the tremors in his body begin to subside and he felt his energy return to him. His focus moved to the lips pressed softly against his and he smiled against them, before plunging his hand into Daniéle's thick hair and pressing her mouth hard against his.

Daniéle's eyes opened in shock and she tried to remove herself from his strong grip, but Sirius was too quick for her. He wrapped his other arm tightly around her body and pulled her onto his bed, pinning her beneath him.

Daniéle protested and tried to move her mouth from his, but Sirius growled hungrily at her and pushed his body harder against his making Daniéle feel a strange heat begin to flow through her body. Sirius rubbed his body against hers once more and the objection melted from Daniéle's mouth.

Daniéle felt her will to fight disappear and she felt herself fade further and further into Sirius' bruising kiss, and she began to kiss him back feverishly. Daniéle body trembled when she felt and heard Sirius' growl of satisfaction when he felt her hungry response.

Sirius ground his body roughly into Daniéle's body making her moan into his mouth. Sirius smiled into the kiss, while grinding his body into hers once more. He removed his mouth from hers and attacked her neck with scalding hot kisses.

Daniéle groaned softly when she felt Sirius lips and teeth move hotly over her neck and collarbone. She sucked in quickly when she felt Sirius' teeth bite hard into her flesh; Daniéle then blew out softly when his tongue slowly ran over the reddened area, soothing it shortly. The soothing was short lived, because Sirius began sucking harshly on the area.

'_Merlin, why doesn't Leander kiss like this?_' she thought as her body shook beneath Sirius with passion. Sirius moved his face to hers trying to resume the heated kissing, but she moved her face, preventing contact, feeling guilt seep into her.

'_Leander, he'd be crushed if he knew what I was doing.'_

"What?" Sirius asked his breath ragged.

"I have to go," she said trying to remove herself from his clutches.

"No, you can't leave," he said holding her in place.

"I have to. I have classes and…I need to go."

"No, love, you won't be needing to go to class tomorrow. We're going to discuss our situation. I've got--"

"Yeah, can you get off of me now?"

Sirius starred at Daniéle for a moment before heeding her request.

"Sorry love," he said sliding off of her body.

"I'm leaving," she said jumping off of the bed and not looking back at Sirius. She heard the sheets shift but she ignored it.

"Bloody hell!" Danielle exclaimed when she saw Sirius standing in front of the door with crossed arms.

"You can't leave love."

"Stop calling me that. I'm not your love; you don't know anything about me Professor Black."

"I know more than you think, _love_, and my name is Sirius," he said advancing towards her.

"I don't give a rats arse that you name is Sirius, _Professor Black_. And I don't want to stay here. I'm going back to my room."

"No, you'll stay here and tomorrow we'll discuss our options," Sirius touching Daniéle's cheek softly.

"What options? All of my options were sucked out the window when I agreed to this," she said angrily while slapping his hand away.

"Look Daniéle, I understand that this is a lot to take in," Sirius said swallowing his anger, "but that's why we're going to wait until tomorrow to talk, so you can wrap your head around all of this. And I'm certain that once we talk, you'll understand. You'll understand how much I love and need you. And you'll see how right this is," he said starring at her with soft gray eyes.

"But right now we both need to rest; it's been a long day for the both of us."

Sirius swung Daniéle into his arms and placed her in his bed gently. He then climbed in next to her and pulled her body flush to his. He waved his wand, extinguishing all of the lights.

"Goodnight love," he said placing a soft kiss on her lips before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

Daniéle stared into the darkness unhappily. "What am I going to do?" she breathed into the night softly, before breaking down into tears.

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**Please REVIEW! Thanks so much.**


	7. Emotions

**AN: I don't own a thing except for the plot and the characters you don't recognize.**

**I know it's been long overdue, but it's the end of the semester and everything is crazy. I do apologize and I hope to be moving a lot faster now that my classes are done (for the spring semester because I am taking summer courses). Again I am sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter. And beware that Sirius is a bit mean in this chapter, but he gets better, as you will see in the next chapter. Please review with something constructive.

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Chapter 6—Emotions

_It's just emotions taking me over_

_Caught up in sorrow_

_Lost in the song_

--Bee Gee's (remade by Destiny's Child) "Emotions"

Daniéle snuggled deeply into the warm covers. She could sense something was off. Even in the haziness between dreams and consciousness she knew that her bed had never felt this warm and comforting.

Daniéle pulled the blankets closer to her face, inhaling deeply. Had she been more aware she would have noticed that the bedding smelled nothing like they usually did. The sheets held a strange smell of ruggedness that made a lethargic smile spread across her lips. There was something about the sheets that made her think of the wide open spaces and woods which made her snuggle even further in.

Daniéle tried to shift her body to a more comfortable position, but she felt something heavy holding her down. Daniéle tried to ignore the feeling and drift back to sleep (it felt too early to be time for breakfast and classes). But the heavy thing decided that it didn't want to be ignored because at that precise moment it pulled her back into something hard.

Daniéle's eyes drifted open cautiously. The sight that greeted her made her stomach lurch uncomfortably. The "heavy thing" was actually an arm, and the arm belonged to her professor, Sirius Black. The man her mind had let her, for a brief moment, forget. And the hard thing that she was pressed against just happened to be his chest.

Daniéle's stared unhappily at the man who she desperately wanted to be rid of, the man who was causing her a trunk load of problems.

'_Come on Daniéle, think. How are you going to get out of here __**without waking him up**__?'_ she thought desperately.

Daniéle looked down at where Sirius' arm hugged tightly at her waist. _'That's going to be hard to get out of,'_ she thought gloomily.

Her eyes traveled back to her kidnapper's face. Daniéle's body began to perform minuscule movements. When Sirius made no movement, her body began to shift more, her eyes darting back and forth between Sirius' arm and face. Still Sirius did not budge. Daniéle's movements grew larger, until she was one more shift from being free from her prison.

But just as she was lifting his arm and sliding from under it Sirius grunted. Daniéle froze and watched Sirius every move intently. And suddenly, to Daniéle's horror, Sirius' arm wrapped around her body and pulled her body back against his muscular body, holding her there tightly.

"Damn it all to hell," Daniéle breathed angrily.

"Hmm…d'you say something love?" Sirius said drowsily.

Daniéle ignored him and fought the tears that threatened to fall when she heard his voice. Her one chance to escape and she had ruined it by panicking and freezing, when she should have taken off running. Daniéle knew that Sirius wouldn't give her another opportunity to get away from him.

'_Now I'm doomed to spend more time with him,'_ she thought sullenly.

Daniéle was pulled from her musings when she felt Sirius' hands running slowly down and up her stomach. Daniéle looked at him with a scandalized face, but his fingers continued to work along her abdomen.

"I'm going to go use the bathroom, take a quick shower, and then you can go ahead and take one. That way while you're showering I can set up the breakfast the house elves are bringing." He said kissing her temple. "I've already spoken to the elves and they've placed a few of your clothes in those drawers over there."

Daniéle stared at him like he was deranged. "When did you have time to speak to the elves about my belongings?" she questioned trying to focus on her anger and not his hands on her body.

"I made some temporary arrangements for you while you were in the Hospital Wing," he said his hands continuing to roam.

Daniéle opened her mouth to question him further, but his fingers stilled her lips. "We'll talk about all of this today, but right now we need to get cleaned up and fed. I'll be right back." Sirius said placing a soft kiss on Daniéle's lips.

'_How does he move in so quick for a kiss without me never noticing until the kiss has already happened?'_ she pondered while she waited for her chance to escape.

Daniéle's eyes followed Sirius into the bathroom. She waited for what seemed like an eternity before she heard what she wanted, the water for the shower.

"Idiot," she said softly as she jumped swiftly from the bed and raced for the door. Daniéle wrenched the door open and fled down the hall. She heard the door slam shut behind her and she cursed herself for being stupid enough to let it shut so harshly.

"Two minutes," she breathed timing the amount of time she had before Sirius made it out the room to hunt her down.

She ran blindly down the halls of Hogwarts. Her first thought was to run for the Gryffindor Tower, but then she thought that he would expect that of her. So Daniéle then decided to run for the dungeons, but then she couldn't decide who was worse: Professor Snape or Black.

She couldn't decide where she was safer, but something told Daniéle that she had to hurry. She felt a presence nearing her and she could only pray that it wasn't Black.

In the end Daniéle decided to run for Dumbledore's office because she felt that he would protect her from the maniac that was her professor.

But Daniéle never made it to Professor Dumbledore's office because right as she was turning in the direction of his office something caught her roughly around the waist.

"Let me go!" she shouted struggling to free herself from the iron-like grip.

"No," the voice was laced with unbridled anger.

"I said LET ME GO," she screeched at the top of her lungs as she felt herself being turned around to face her captor.

"SHUT UP," Sirius' voice bellowed in her face, his eyes back to the scary onyx color she encountered in the Forbidden Forest. "Shut up, you are not allowed to speak," he said seething. Sirius' hands gripped Daniéle's arm with a bruising grip and proceed to drag her down the hall.

"You're hurting me," she whimpered out as she struggled to stay on her feet. "HELP! PLEASE!" Daniéle shouted, "Please someone help me," she whispered as a tear fell from her eye, dampening her robe.

"Daniéle? Are you okay?" Daniéle heard the voice say, she would have given anything for it to have been anyone else.

Sirius stopped swiftly which caused Daniéle to stumble to the ground.

"Professor Black what are you doing to her?!" the voice asked with rage moving to help Daniéle from the ground which caused Sirius to let out a great roar, which caused Daniéle to shake and the male to jump back.

Sirius lifted Daniéle from the ground harshly and pulled her back to his chest tightly, so that her back was against his chest.

"Look who it is love. Just the man you would have been writing a letter to today, ending things with him, had you _stayed where you were supposed to_. But I guess these things are better done in person," Sirius whispered ruthlessly in Daniéle's ear.

"No," she breathed. "Please don't make me do it."

"Daniéle what is going on? Professor Black would you kindly remove your hands from _my_ girlfriend," Leander said haughtily.

"Listen here you clot, you wouldn't know what to do with a woman if she came with a manual and labels pointing out where everything is," Sirius said arrogantly. "Love, don't you have something to say to Leander?" Sirius asked caressing the skin around her neck roughly.

"No," she said shaking her head.

"Oh I think you do or," Sirius let his voice drop off as he whispered the rest into her ear. He kept his eyes trained on Leander, who held his eye contact. Sirius smirked softly at Leander and growled lowly in Daniéle's ear making her shiver and think of a lion eyeing its prey.

Daniéle turned her head to face Sirius', "You w-would do _hiccup_ something s-so _hiccup_ hor-ri-ri-ble?" she questioned with wide ears full of fear.

"To protect what we have I would do anything. And if he, or anyone else, tries to stand in the way then they have to be eliminated. Believe me love it's what's best for us. I'm always thinking about us," he said softly his eyes slowly turning back to their original gray color.

"Daniéle…"

Sirius' growl kept Leander at bay.

"_sniff _Leander I-I can't b-be with y-you _sniff_ any-anymore. I'm so-sorry. B-but it-it's for t-the be-best."

Leander's eyes darkened with hurt and Daniéle felt her entire body convulse with regret. Regret that she had been so stupid as to fall in the Forbidden Forest and regret for being stupid enough to think trying to heal Sirius herself, instead of going to get help from a professional, was a good idea.

"I-I'm so sorry Leander, b-but its f-for the b-best."

Daniéle felt Sirius' grip tighten on her and his chest tense, as if readying himself for a battle, when he saw Leander move for her.

"Daniéle…please…"

"Don't Leander, don't. Just forget all about me. And please don't try to contact me. It's for the best. He-he'll hurt you if you do. Please believe me; you don't want anything to do with me anymore. I'll just bring you pain."

Leander stared at Daniéle with the green eyes she had come to adore, but instead of the happiness that had always filled them, sadness now resided in their alluring depths. Leander turned his back on Daniéle and Sirius, and fought his way through the crowd of students and professors that Daniéle had not been aware of. Her eyes passed over the entire crowd before she turned her head into Sirius' chest and cried.

Daniéle cried for herself, Leader, their relationship, and for both of their embarrassment. She cried so hard that she never noticed Sirius lift her effortlessly into his strong arms and carry her through the gawking crowd. Nor did she notice the quick conversation Dumbledore and Sirius exchanged concerning her future.

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**Please review...**


	8. Timeline

**AN: I know it's not a chapter, but I wanted people to see what the time frame is. Chapter 8 is in the making. And chapter 19 of Her Protector should be up soon.

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Timeline:**

**1959—Sirius Black born**

**December 18, 1981—Daniéle Martin born**

**June 1, 1992—Daniéle receives her letter of acceptance into Hogwarts**

**September 1, 1992—Daniéle starts her first year of Hogwarts**

**September 1, 1992—Daniéle meets and befriends Ginny Weasley and Maxine Shaw**

**June 4, 1993—Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban**

**June 1995—Sirius Black falls behind Veil**

**July 1996—Sirius Black's name cleared of all charges**

**June 1997—Daniéle sits her OWLS**

**Score: **

**Charms—E**

**Defense against the Dark Arts—E**

**Herbology—E**

**Potions—O**

**Transfiguration—E**

**History of Magic—P**

**Care of Magical Creatures—A**

**Astronomy—A**

**Divination—D**

**July 1998—Sirius Black freed from Veil through unknown sources; although there **

**are theories.**

**June 1998—Harry Potter defeats Lord Voldemort**

**July 16, 1999—Sirius Black asked to be DADA professor for Hogwarts**

**September 2, 1999—Sirius Black chooses Daniéle Martin as his mate**

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Review replies:

**ceilidh/kayleigh:** Thanks so much for the review. I'm happy you enjoyed it.

**MissPadfoot101:** Thanks a lot. I'm happy chapter 3 made your day because your review made my day as well.

**Sarah P.:** I plan on developing Daniele a lot more, if given the chance. The spell in the third chapter was not a complicated spell, now had he asked her to Avada Kedavra something things would have turned out a lot different, meaning she wouldn't have been able to do it because it's far to advanced for her. I wasn't aware that her having a boyfriend made her Mary Sue-ish. And her body wasn't meant to sound hot, but merely average. She's a thick girl but the weight is proportioned so she doesn't look heavily overweight, but she is by no means the definition of a perfect body. Large breast doesn't equal a perfect body, believe me I know. I hope that you're not saying that being pretty means that the person is automatically a Mary-Sue because that is not true. I also wasn't aware that her being best friends with Ginny made her a Mary-Sue. I'm sure Ginny has a best friend, we've only encountered one friend of Ginny's who wasn't in the Golden Trio and that was Luna. And since it's my story I can have Madam Pomfrey teach a class on Healing or take a student or two under her wing if she sees that the student really wants to learn and has a talent for Healing.

Sirius' return will be explained later in the story; if you'd give me time to get to that chapter then all of your questions will be answered. JK Rowling didn't explain how Sirius escaped from Azkaban in the first few chapters, so that means I don't have to explain why he popped out of the veil right away. And news in the Wizarding World travels fast; therefore, everyone would know that he was alive and Sirius was cleared of charges in the 6th book, and again he's only had one class give me a chance to get to the wonderment of the students.

Since Harry is off living his own life he doesn't need to be Sirius' only priority. Of course they have a close bond still. Again if given time it will be shown. And Harry was Sirius' main priority when he didn't have any other priorities. Don't you think that Harry would want Sirius to find someone to spend his life with?

Sirius wasn't happy because he was always imprisoned, but when it is seen that when he had people to spend his time with he was a happy person (see OotP). And of course the story is AU because Sirius and Dumbledore are alive. How could it not be AU?

Griffons to the best of my knowledge don't exist, I made them up. And every search I've ever done concerning griffins has brought up a creature that had the head of a eagle and he body of a lion, although there have been variations of the type of animals, for instance, I once say that it was a reptilian body, but I forget what type of head. As I said before if you google 'griffins' it should pop up.

Sirius getting jealous when he saw Daniele with Leander was not him acting under the griffin curse because he hadn't been infected yet. But it was him letting his emotions take control of him. Most people get jealous when they see the person they're attracted to with someone else, it's human nature. Sirius was merely acting under the influence of this emotion. The tattoo will be explained later.

And I apologize for the word confusion, it was an unintended error. Every writer has them, even JK Rowling herself. I am human and allowed to make mistakes.


	9. Meant to Be?

**AN: Okay I'm finally updating and I know it's been a long time coming. I'm sorry for the wait. But here's the chapter. This is where we see a nice Sirius. The next chapter which is done, shows why Sirius knows** **why Daniéle is the one for him. Thanks for reading and please review.

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**Chapter 7—Meant to Be?**

_Dreams last so long, even after you__'re gone  
I know, that you love me and soon you will see  
You were meant for me and I was meant for you_

--Jewel "You Were Meant For Me"

Sirius carried an extremely distraught Daniéle into his quarters. He placed a powerful sealing charm on the door, insuring that she did not escape him a second time.

Sirius moved to the couch and gently sat down, so as to not disturb Daniéle. Sirius' eyes softened as he looked down at the crying girl in his arms, and he felt his heart ache.

"Shh, love, its okay. It's all going to be alright," he whispered soothingly into her ear. "I've got you, and everything's going to be alright. You have to understand, in order for _us_ to be happy, he had to go. I know it hurts, but it will get better. Once you realize just how much I love you and how much you love me everything will be okay. It's all going to work out, I promise."

Sirius ran his fingers softly through Daniéle's hair as he continued to murmur softly, "We'll be so happy together. We'll take things as slow as you need to, love, I won't rush you into anything. And once I sense that you're ready, I'll mark you as mine and then it'll be official. And then we can get married and we'll have children, and we'll just be so happy together," Sirius said, his grey eyes looking unfocusedly into the distance.

Daniéle blotchy face looked at Sirius with a frown. She sniffed uncontrollably, and shifted trying to dislodge herself from his arms. But Sirius, still looking into the distance, tightened his hold on Daniéle while continuing to stroke her brown hair softly.

Daniéle signed, "Can you let me go please?" she asked softly, her eyes focused on her hands which rested in her lap.

"Of course darling," Sirius said moving his arm from around her and allowing her to slide from his lap. "We should eat something, I'm sure it will make you feel better and we can talk, get to know each other." Sirius said with a bright smile.

Although Daniéle did not want to talk with him, she agreed silently while smiling uncomfortably at him. She found that she was too tired to argue or fight with him.

"Brilliant," Sirius said enthusiastically, "it looks like the house elves already brought breakfast," he said grabbing his wand and making a flicking motion with his wrist which brought the many trays of food. He placed them carefully onto the table that stood before the couch.

The two ate silently for a few moments before Sirius began to question her. "So…um…how old are you?"

Daniéle raised her eyebrows at him, "You jump me in the Forbidden Forest, stick your tongue down my throat yesterday, and _now_ you want to know my age?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," Sirius said smiling dashingly at her.

"I'll be eighteen in December," she said rolling her eyes at him.

"December what?"

"December 18." (**AN: shout out to Christina Aguilera, this is her birthday and I'm a huge fan…back to the story)**

"That's coming up soon," Sirius commented silently thinking of a way to use the information to further their relationship.

"Not that soon, it's still a couple of months away," she commented lightly, wondering if she was supposed to ask when his birthday was.

The two sat in silence, Sirius waiting for her to ask about his birth date and Daniéle merely blinking at him.

"Well," Sirius began seeing that Daniéle wasn't going to ask about when he was born, "I was born on March 30th, in case you were wondering," he said frowning at her.

"What are you going to do when you graduate?"

"I'm studying to become a Healer, right now I'm training under Madam Pomfrey."

"I wasn't aware that Poppy taught classes."

"She doesn't teach classes, it's like an internship. It's bloody difficult getting her to agree to take you, but it is definitely worth it."

"Why?" Sirius asked taking a big bite of food.

"Why what?"

"Why is it so difficult?" Sirius asked while swallowing his food.

"I dunno, but I guess she uses it as a kind of test. To see how devoted you are, I'm not exactly sure, but that's what I think." Daniéle paused to take a sip of her juice.

"You have to keep asking her, stay on her, because she turns you down about a dozen times, well she turned me down at least twenty times before she agreed to teach me. I guess she's making sure you really want to learn, she probably doesn't want to waste time on a flaky person."

Sirius nodded, leaving the two in an uncomfortable silence. Sirius, trying to break the tension, mistakenly asked the wrong question.

"So…um…how's your sister?"

"Which one? I have more than one. Wait, how'd you know I have a sister?" Daniéle asked him looking at him with her eyebrows furrowed.

"I…uh…I took a guess?" he asked smiling nervously.

"No you didn't," she said before her eyes widened, "you're a bleeding stalker," she said jumping from the couch and moving for the door.

Sirius grabbed Daniéle's arm, preventing her progression to the door, "I'm not a stalker, but I do know you have a sister. I wasn't aware that you had more than one, but I do know you have an older one," he said gently.

Daniéle stared at him suspiciously. "How do you know?"

"I know because it's the reason I know that we're meant to be together."

"How are you so sure that we're meant to be together?" Daniéle asked challengingly.

Sirius sighed softly while running a hand through his black hair, mentally kicking himself for sticking his foot in his mouth.

"It all began when I fell through the Veil. I had this vision…" Sirius said beginning the tale of his time behind the mysterious Veil.

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**I don't know exactly when Sirius birthday, but I see him as being an Aries, and March 30 is in the Aries block. If you read a description of how Aries act I think you may agree, if you don't then we're just not on the same page. I will try to update both HP and FO sooner than I did the last time. And Her Protector has been updated: chapter 19 is up for Her Protector.**

**Please REVIEW!**


	10. Vision of Love

**AN: Here's the chapter. Sorry for the long wait. Please check out my page so you can see the details concerning my future departure. PLEASE REVIEW!**

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**Chapter 8—A Vision of Love**

_Prayed through the nights  
Felt so alone  
Suffered from alienation  
Carried the weight on my own_

_Prayed through the nights  
Felt so alone  
Suffered from alienation  
Carried the weigh_

_Had to be strong  
So I believed  
And now I know I've succeeded  
In finding the place I conceived_

--Mariah Carey "Vision of Love"

"How can you be so sure that we're meant to be?" Daniéle asked, trying to get him to see reason.

"I saw you," Sirius said calmly, his eyes staring at her softly.

"What?"

"I saw you from the Veil, or as I was leaving the Veil, I'm not exactly sure, but…I felt the tug and then I saw you. You were sitting in a house; I'm guessing it was yours. And…and your sister or at least I think she was your sister, was combing your hair into pigtails. You looked so cute," he said, smiling with reminiscence.

"You looked to be no more than eleven which you probably were because your sister kept telling you how wonderful Hogwarts was and how you were going to love it there. But you were hardly listening to her because you were singing this pretty Muggle song, something about king of love and crowning," Daniéle who had been mesmerized into silence thus far snapped back into reality and cut Sirius off.

"Your Love is King— it's by Sade. It's one of my favorite songs and she's one of my favorite singers," and then Daniéle did something that not only surprised Sirius, but it surprised herself as well.

"Your love is king, crown you with my heart. Your love is king. You're the ruler of my heart. Your kisses ring, round and round and round my head. Touching the very part of me, it's making my soul sing. I'm crying out for more. Your love is king," Daniéle finished the song with a small blush gracing her cheeks.

"I'm not that great of a singer, but I try," she said, biting her lip nervously.

"You're not half bad," he said with a charming smile that made Daniéle blush further and dip her head from his view. But Sirius was able to see the shy smile that graced her lips before her face disappeared by a curtain of hair.

The two stood in a silence that was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. Both occupants of the room were deep within their minds thinking.

"What else?" Daniéle suddenly, catching Sirius off guard.

"What else what?" he asked, confused.

"What else, assuming I believe you, did you see?"

"Well you were singing adorably off key. But your sister took you by surprise and smacked you in the back of the head with the brush she was combing your hair with. And you…"

"Told on her, I was such a big tattle tale back then," she said, laughing, which caused Sirius to smile.

"And then you went to your room, turned on the radio, and started to sing and dance. You were so sweet running around the room and singing songs that were too old for you," Sirius said, chuckling.

Daniéle watched Sirius talk about her with such happiness that she felt a part of herself trying to make a section for him in her heart, but she stopped herself from allowing it to happen.

'_Don't forget he's a bastard that has completely ruined your life,'_ she told herself harshly.

"How'd you see this?"

"Well, I…I was thinking happy thoughts. I was thinking about family, getting married, having children, and being free. And then I saw you, and then I was back at Hogwarts in the Hospital Wing. I couldn't remember how I got there. I only remembered falling. But then I saw Dumbledore sitting there with his eyes twinkling like mad. It was like he knew something I didn't— which he normally does, so I didn't put much stock into it; I just assumed that he was happy to have me back. But now I wonder if he knew. I wonder if he knew about the vision I had of you."

"So Dumbledore knew this would happen?" Daniéle asked, not understanding.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past him. And to tell you the truth, if he did know, I'm happy he didn't interfere," Sirius said, reaching his hand and caressing her cheek softly.

Daniéle didn't say anything because she knew she could not agree with him.

"Why me?" she asked with glossy eyes. "Why choose me as your mate? Why not someone else? Someone who wouldn't mind all of _this_?" She asked gesturing wildly with her hands.

"Because I saw you," Sirius said with a distant look in his eyes. "I was drawn to you the first moment I set eyes on you in the Great Hall, but I couldn't understand why. So I decided to ignore it. Obviously, I wasn't given the chance to do that," he said with a small chuckle.

"It wasn't until after the griffin's attack that I started to understand. I would get bits and pieces of my vision, but I finally understood everything when you gave me the Promise Kiss. I was drawn back to my time in the Veil and I saw it fully. And then I felt your kiss, and I knew you were the one. You were the girl with the pigtails who had made me as happy as I was leaving the Veil. I finally have it figured out. I was let out of the Veil to find you because you're the source of my happy place. _You'll_ marry me, and _you'll_ give me the kids I've always wanted. We'll all be so happy together, you, me, and the kids. And of course Moony—Remus—will be the children's godfather, while Harry will be the honorary uncle," Sirius said, smiling brightly, the faraway look still present in his eyes.

"I should go," Daniéle said, feeling awkward around the man who had claimed her as his own. "Professor Lupin said he needed to talk to me," she said quickly before trying dashing out of the room, but the door was locked powerfully.

"I have to see Professor Lupin," Daniéle said quietly.

"Right, I forgot you had that meeting," Daniéle looked at him strangely, wondering how he knew about the meeting because she had not mentioned it to him, and she had just found out about the meeting.

"Remus informed me about the meeting while I was watching over you in the infirmary." He said while releasing the spell that was keeping the door locked tight.

Daniéle nodded before racing from the room as fast as she could. She couldn't help but think how fast her life had changed.

'_One moment I'm worried about NEWTs, the next I'm getting married and popping out babies. Damn, I really need to be studying for NEWTs.'_

* * *

Daniéle walked slowly to Remus' office. She noticed that the door was open, so she knocked softly on the door in order to get his attention. 

"Professor Lupin?" Daniéle asked timidly. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, come in, Ms. Martin," Remus said kindly.

Daniéle walked into the office slowly, and sat in the chair Lupin offered her.

"So Daniéle, I'm sure you are wondering why I have asked you meet me," Remus said with a smile.

"Well, Professor Dumbledore has asked me to teach you Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"But I'm already have a Defense professor."

"I know, but considering the circumstances surrounding you and Professor Black, Professor Dumbledore thought that it would be best if someone else taught you the subject. We don't want the students to think that you are getting special treatment from Professor Black," Remus said with kind eyes.

Daniéle nodded silently, while biting her lip. She hadn't thought of what the other students would say about Sirius teaching her.

"So," Remus continued, pulling Daniéle from her thoughts. "I will teach you during your regular Defense Against the Dark Arts class period because I have a free period."

"Okay," Daniéle said rising from her seat.

"Daniéle," Remus said signaling for her to take the seat again. "Is everything alright? You seem to be a bit sad," Remus asked with concern.

"It's nothing professor," she said continuing to stand.

"It is something Daniéle, now go ahead and have a seat, and we can talk about it if you'd like."

Daniéle sighed, "It's just that I don't like this."

"You don't like what?" Remus asked not fully understanding.

"This. Having to change my classes around and my life around because _he_ couldn't get a grip."

"Daniéle," Remus began cautiously.

"No, it's not fair. It's not fair at all. I had my life in order. I had my boyfriend and my friends. And I felt confident that this year was going to be great, but that's all changed. Now I don't know what I'm doing, or where I'm going. I have no control over anything anymore. And I don't like it. I really do…I despise him." Daniéle said harshly.

"And he's talking about getting married and having kids because that's what _he_ wants. But what about what I want? I don't want to get married, nor do I want to have kids right now. I wanted to be a Healer, but I'm not even sure of I want that anymore. He's completely ruined my life. I've wanted to be Healer for as long as I can remember, but now I'm not sure anymore. I'm not sure of anything anymore." Daniéle finished ranting, and looked at her professor with wide eyes.

"I…uh…I'll just go now." She said standing and walking quickly towards the door.

"Daniéle come back, and have a seat." Remus called kindly after her. He was slightly stunned by her outburst, but not entirely surprised. He knew that she was probably going to be having problems with her relationship with Sirius.

Daniéle walked back begrudgingly, and resumed her previous position.

"I know you are having problems with adjusting to all of this. Your life did change in practically one day. I understand that, but it's no reason to despise Sirius. He is a good man. He just hasn't gotten full control of his inner demon."

Daniéle looked at Remus weirdly, making him sigh.

"Look, you know that I am a werewolf, I believe that one of my colleagues let the secret out your second year." He said smiling grimly.

Daniéle nodded her head slowly.

"Well do you think I would ever attack someone while out of my wolf state?"

"No."

"Sirius wouldn't either. But the difference between Sirius and I is that I've had years to come to terms with my lycanthropy. I understand it, and I can somewhat control it. But Sirius has not. It's is still very new to him, and he is trying to cope with it. You have to give him time to adjust; just like he needs to give you time to adjust.

"What you need to understand is that Sirius and the Griffon are two different things and entities. Sirius is not the Griffon and the Griffon is not Sirius. But they are stuck together, and they have to learn how to coexist with one another.

"You can't judge him for what he does while the Griffon has control of him because that is not Sirius. Daniéle, you need to learn who Sirius is, you need to get to know him. I can assure you he is a good man. He's someone who didn't listen to society when they told him that being friends with a werewolf was bad. He didn't judge me, or desert me, when he found out that I was a werewolf. He stuck by me, and I will forever be grateful to him for that."

Remus paused and looked at Daniéle, who was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as he spoke.

"Daniéle, just get to know him, make an effort to know who Sirius really is. Because I know that he wants desperately to know you."

Daniéle nodded numbly.

"Now you should get going because I'm sure Sirius is getting anxious from all of this separation." Remus said with a laughing smile.

"Uh, thanks professor. I'll see you next class period." Daniéle said rising from her chair and heading for the door.

"Bye Daniéle, and take my advice. Just get to know Sirius for who he truly is."

Daniéle shook her head, and walked out of Lupin's office, her head now filled with a whole new set of thoughts.

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	11. Things I Don't Understand

**AN: I own nothing, except for the things you don't recognize. This will be the last chapter for at least a month, if you would like to know why visit my profile. PLEASE REVIEW. Enjoy.**

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**Chapter 9--Things I Don't Understand**

_How tides control the sea, and what becomes of me  
How little things can slip out of your hands  
How often people change, no two remain the same  
Why things don't always turn out as you plan_

These are things that I don't understand  
Yeah, these are things that I don't understand 

--Coldplay "Things I Don't Understand"

Daniéle walked along the corridors alone down through the throng of people. She walked alone and with her eyes to the ground, trying to ignore the loud whispers her classmates made concerning her.

"Did you see the way she just tossed Leander aside like that?"

"I bet she's sleeping with Professor Black to get a better grade."

"I always knew she was a tramp, I mean she acts _too_ goody goody to actually be that good."

Daniéle quickened her pace, trying to outrun the harsh words that seemed to meet her at every corner.

'_I'm so glad Professor Dumbledore took me out of Sirius' class. I didn't think it would be this bad.'_ She thought trying to swallow the tears that threatened the surface. Daniéle wasn't used to all of this crying, but it seemed that this past week had been an extremely emotional one for her. Normally, she was immune to the negative things anyone said about her. But, then again, she had never had the entire school calling her a whore.

Daniéle went from class to class trying to ignore the stares, giggles, and harsh words that even the professors couldn't control, or stop. She walked right through the Gryffindor common room and straight into her dormitory, collapsing heavily onto her four-poster bed. She reveled in the peace she was finally experiencing, but the peace was short lived.

"Oh looks who finally decided to come and grace us with her presence," said a voice that made Daniéle sigh in exasperation.

"Hello Bebe," she said with her head still buried in her bed.

"Oh look she still remembers my name."

Daniéle turned her head to look at the 5'7 frame of the overly tanned form of her roommate of 6 years, and she was extremely happy that this would be the last.

"What do you want Bebe?" Daniéle asked standing from her bed, and packing her satchel with books, quills, parchment, and ink.

"Oh nothing, I just wanted to know where you were last night. Were you with Professor Black?" she asked, while combing her fingers through her light brown hair, and staring at Daniéle with hard blue eyes.

"None of your business Walker," Daniéle said, as she swung her satchel onto her shoulder.

"So I'll take that as a yes," she said while she and her friend Becky, who looked very similar to Bebe, but instead she possessed light green eyes, blocked the door.

"How about you take it as a kiss my ass," Daniéle said feeling her temper rise.

"My but that language isn't befitting of a lady, but it fits a tramp perfectly," Bebe said with a smirk.

"Well you would know wouldn't you Bebe, and you too Becky unless that rumor I heard about the two of you and Henry having a threesome was a lie," Daniéle said while pushing through the two B's blocking the door, and rushing down the stairs before they had a chance to retort.

"Hey Dani, where you headed to so fast," a voice shouted out.

Daniéle turned to see her best friend Max trying to catch up with her.

"Max," Daniéle called relief evident in her voice. "I was headed to the library because the B's are up in the dormitory, and I really don't want to go back to Professor Black's chambers just yet," she said.

"Professor Black's chambers?" Max asked with a suggestive gleam in her eyes.

"Nothing like that, but let's go talk somewhere more private," Daniéle said looking around apprehensively.

"Okay, let me just grab my things. This is perfect you can help me with the Transfiguration essay." Max said, grabbing her things.

"Uh, I was actually hoping you could help me," Daniéle said, laughing which felt good to do, considering she hadn't done so for over twenty-four hours.

* * *

Daniéle led Max to her usual spot, which was all the way to the back of the library where she was least likely to be disturbed from her studies. 

"So what's going on Daniéle?" Max asked, jumping right to the heart of the matter.

"Well, I was the last person in the forest with Professor Black when that crazy griffin attacked…."

Thirty minutes later, and many tears and interruptions later saw Daniéle wrapping up her story to Max.

"Wow, I mean wow. I don't know what to say except: quick the stalling and let him mark you already. And after he marks you do you get to have hot and sweaty sex with him? Ooh ooh I can see it now:

You'll say: 'Oh professor I've been a naughty naughty girl, and I think I may need to be punished.'

And then he'll say: 'I know just the thing you need,' and he'll pull out a paddle."

"MAX," Daniéle hissed at her friend, staring at her with wide eyes, and with a red tinge detectable under her caramel complexion.

"There will be no 'Naughty School Girl Act.' And what do you mean just let him mark me? I don't know him, I had a life before this, and I don't want to give it up." Daniéle said pouting.

"Well then Daniéle, get to know him. That will solve the whole 'not knowing him part.' And Daniéle as much as you don't want to give up your old life: IT'S OVER, IT'S DONE WITH. Your life before this no longer exist, it's time that you realize this. You just have to deal with it, and make the best of what you have been given.

"And what you have been given is a beautiful and sexy man who wants to spend the rest of his life with you, take care of you, and protect you. From where I'm sitting there is no problem, and I don't see why you're so upset. If it were me I would have jumped his bones already." Max finished in a wicked smirk on her lips. "But then again, I don't need commitment, so we'd have a problem."

"Of course you would Max," Daniéle said, laughing at her best friend's antics. "Well, as much as I would love to stay and chit chat I think I should be going, Sirius is probably looking for me," Daniéle said gathering her things.

"He gets antsy when we spend too much time apart," Daniéle said, while rolling her eyes, and throwing her bag onto her shoulder again.

"But what about Transfiguration?"

"I'll ask Sirius to help me with it; it's not due for two more days. I'll try to catch up with you tomorrow, but if I don't I'll send you an owl with what I got," Daniéle said walking towards the library entrance.

"Sounds good, bye."

"Bye."

* * *

"Padfoot?" Remus called into his best friend's quarters. 

"Right here Moony," Sirius said walking from the bathroom. "What do you need?"

"I was hoping to talk to you about Daniele."

"What is it? Is she alright?" Sirius asked worriedly. "Is she alright Remus? She's late from getting back from her classes," Sirius said moving for the door to go and look for Daniele.

"Sirius, Daniele is fine. I saw her in the library with her friend Maxine," Remus said trying to calm his friend.

"Don't scare me like that Moony," Sirius said taking a deep breath, and taking a seat on the couch. "But what about Daniele?" Sirius asked looking at his friend, who had joined him on the couch.

"I wanted to tell you to take it easy on her. I talked to her yesterday, and I think you need to try not to move too fast with her."

"I'm not moving too fast with her Remus, I told her we can go as slow as she wanted to," Sirius said getting defensive.

"Look calm down Padfoot. I'm not trying to upset you; I'm trying to help you. Just take it easy with her, and maybe lay off of the talk of marriage and kids until you guys are further into the relationship."

"But—"

"Padfoot, she's seventeen years old. What seventeen year old do you know who wants to get married and have kids right away?"

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, "I guess I have been moving a bit quick with her," Sirius said softly.

"You have, and it's scaring her."

"How do you know?" Sirius asked his friend.

"She told me. She told me that she wants all of that down the road, but right now is not the time for her."

"Understandable," Sirius said.

"You also need to try and contain your anger. Sirius you frighten her, well, you don't, but the Griffon does. You still need to show her how different you are from the Griffon, make her understand that you aren't the Griffon.

"And Sirius you need to learn to control it. And you need to learn how to control it fast, or else your relationship with Daniele will be in jeopardy," Remus said.

"Well I better go, Nymphadora is coming by, and I want to tidy up, and put all the breakable things away," Remus said standing, walking towards the door.

"Remus," Sirius called after his friend.

"Yeah Padfoot."

"Thanks for this."

"No problem."

* * *

Daniéle walked into Sirius's quarters with a huff. She was really getting tired of hearing all of the nasty comments and rumors swirling around about her. 

"Long day love?" Sirius asked, turning from his desk to face her.

"Extremely," she said, sighing and moving to sit on the couch. She sat her satchel on the table in front of the couch, and immediately began unloading her belongings.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sirius asked shuffling through the papers he was grading.

"No, I just want to do my Transfiguration," she said, pulling her Transfiguration book towards her, along with a fresh piece of parchment.

"Well, if you need help I'm here. I was quite good at Transfiguration," Sirius said, turning to complete his lesson plans for the next week.

"Thanks," Daniéle said before placing the earphones to her iWiz, the portable Wizard Wireless, into her ears.

Sirius sat revising and tweaking his lesson plans in silence, before he was interrupted by an angry scream and a book hurling across the room into a wall.

"Screw it, I'm so sick of all of this," Daniéle said snatching the earphones from her ears and striding quickly for the door.

"Wait, love, calm down," Sirius said catching Daniéle's arm, before she made it out of the door. "Just calm down, love. What's the problem?" he said while pulling her back to the couch and summoning her textbook back onto the table.

"I've had a horrible day, I can't concentrate, and Professor McGonagall assigned this disgustingly hard essay, and I'm sure she's probably getting a good laugh from my suffering," she groaned while pulling her fingers through her hair.

Sirius bit back a smile, when he saw Daniéle's hair sticking in odd angles where her fingers tore through her hair.

"Love, what you need to do is just calm down and breathe. There's nothing you can do about what happened today," he said giving her a talk Remus had given him years earlier.

"Now I can help with you your essay, and it would probably help if you weren't listening to music while trying to do homework."

"But the music has never hindered me before," she argued.

"Well, maybe you're just distracted from the day you've had," Sirius said while pulling Daniéle and her textbook closer to him.

"Alright what are you guys studying this week?" Sirius asked.

"Conjuring spells. I just don't get them. We talked a little about them last year, and I didn't understand them then either."

"Well, worry no more my love. Because I happen to be a wiz at Conjuring spells," Sirius said smiling cheekily at her, and placing a tender kiss on her forehead while running his hair through her hair.

"Um…thanks for this Sirius," Daniéle said awkwardly.

"No problem love," Sirius said taking her left hand in his, "it really is my pleasure," and placing a soft kiss on her ring finger, and staring deep into her eyes.

**

* * *

**

**See you all in a few.**


	12. Interlude: One Last Cry

**Interlude: One Last Cry…Goodnight**

_One last cry_

_One last cry_

_Before I leave it all behind_

_I gotta put you out of my mind this time_

_Stop living a lie_

_I know I gotta be strong_

_Cause around me life goes on and on and on_

…

_Every night you cry yourself to sleep_

_Thinking why does this happen to me_

_Why does every moment have to be so hard?_

_Hard to believe that_

_It's not over tonight_

_Just give me one more chance to make it right_

_I may not make it through the night_

_But I won't go home without you_

--Brian McKnight "One Last Cry"

--Maroon 5 "Won't Go Home Without You"

* * *

Daniéle lay in bed that night silently contemplating everything that had happened since her arrival at Hogwarts for her seventh year. Daniéle couldn't help but wonder what had caused her life to change so dramatically in such a short time. And the question of whether this change was for the better or the worse continuously flitted through her mind.

She saw herself walking down the road that she had paved for herself, but then a great wave of water came and washed her onto a new path; a path that she knew nothing about and was unaware of how she should go about traveling it. Daniéle wasn't sure if she needed an umbrella to protect her from the rain, or if she needed hiking boots to help her get across the rough terrain.

Sirius, who was sleeping right beside her, had his arm clutched tightly around her waist. And for some unknown reason this gesture of his brought a small comfort to Daniéle. Daniéle stared at him, and thought of the words Professor Lupin and Max said to her.

'_Maybe they're right,'_ she thought, slowly. Her life, before Sirius chose her as his potential mate, was over, but it didn't mean that her entire life was over. She knew that it was high time that she stop pitying herself, and accept the blows life dealt her. It was time that she start acting like an adult, which in wizarding standards she was.

But just because Daniéle knew that these things were true, it didn't necessarily mean that she was ready to take the fork in the road that Sirius's actions created and forced upon her.

Daniéle turned her head to look at Sirius. She stared at him for a long moment, and contemplated her feelings for him. She no longer felt hatred or resentment towards him, no matter how hard she tried to hold tight to these feelings. It wasn't Sirius's fault; Daniéle constantly had to remind herself. Daniéle had to remind herself that Sirius, just as herself, was a victim to the entire situation.

Daniéle let out a sigh and felt repressed tears run down her cheeks, which soaked the pillow her head gently rested upon. She surrendered herself completely to the feelings of fear and venerability. And with each tear she let go of everything, and said goodbye to the life she once knew.

'_Goodbye Leander,'_ she thought, softly. _'Goodbye Gryffindor Tower,'_ because although she still had access to the tower, she knew she would hardly spend any time in the wing she called home for six years. Daniéle also bid a possible goodbye to her future as a Healer.

Daniéle was so busy quietly thinking her goodbyes, that she didn't notice Sirius eyes drift open. "Love?" Sirius called sleepily, looking at her wet eyes and cheeks with concern.

"What's wrong Daniéle? Is everything alright? You're not hurt are you?" Sirius asked, quickly beginning to regain consciousness.

"I'm fine Sirius. It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. I'm fine now," she said, giving him a small smile.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, taking his hands to her face and wiping the tears from her face gently.

"Yes. Everything is fine," Daniéle said, nodding her head slowly. "You should go back to sleep. You have class tomorrow."

"If you're certain?" Sirius questioned, still not entirely convinced of her well being. "But if you aren't feeling well, I won't go to class. I'll stay here and take care of you," he rasped, his voice still scratchy from his slumber.

"Really, Sirius, I am fine. Everything is good," she said. "I'm just tired. All I want right now is to sleep. I need to be well rested because Professor Flitwick hinted at possibly giving a quiz tomorrow."

"Alright, love, if you're sure. But no more crying, okay? It makes me worry," Sirius said, pulling Daniéle's body tightly to his.

"Nope, no more crying," she said, truly meaning it. "I'm not falling apart, not anymore."

"Well," Sirius said, drifting back to sleep, "whatever it is, there's no need to cry about it because I've got you, love."

Sirius arms wrapped his arms around Daniéle's body securely, making Daniéle smile lazily, before the two fell into a peaceful sleep.

_Goodnight, goodnight_

_Goodnight, goodnight_

_Goodnight, goodnight_

_Goodnight, goodnight_

_Goodnight_

_Hope that things work out alright_

_Yeah_

--Maroon 5 "Goodnight"

* * *

**AN: I am not back, but I was able to get to a computer (library) and upload this. It's just a short tidbit that I wrote the night I got to my grandparents. I hope you all enjoy it.**

**I am going back to DC around the 24th of August because classes start on the 27th. **

**But please REVIEW. I hope to get back to the library next Monday. And once again thanks for the patience.**


	13. We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off

**AN: Okay so it's been 3 long months since I've updated this story, and for that I sincerely apologize, but school comes first in my life (outside of my family); it's my top priority (NOTE: I am taking 19 credits and I have a part time job; so time isn't really available for me to write). That being said, I do undertand if you guys are upset with me, I would be upset with me too, but all I can say is here is chapter 10, I hope you all enjoy it. Please review, and tell what you thought, and yes you may rant about my absence if you would like.**

**I will admit that this chapter has been on my computer for months, but it was missing something, and I am still not entirely happy with it (it feels choppy to me), but I needed to post.**

**Again, my apologize for the wait. And as always, I don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

Chapter 10—We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off**

_I cannot find a way to describe it  
It's there inside  
All I do is hide  
I wish that it would __just go away  
What would you do?  
You do if you knew  
What would you do? _

All the pain  
I thought I knew  
All the thoughts lead back to you  
Back to what  
was never said  
Back and forth  
inside my head  
I can't handle this confusion  
I'm unable; come and take me away 

--Avril Lavigne "Take Me Away"

Daniéle walked into the bathroom that morning in a good mood. She was feeling better about the strange turn of events that had happened in her life, and she was feeling as though things were getting back on track.

As she stepped out of the shower that morning, she was feeling extremely refreshed, until she looked into the floor length mirror.

"Bloody hell, I'm a cow," she shouted, turning every which way in order to see the different angles on her body.

"Oh god, it's time to put Diet Number 13 into action," she said, pulling on her school uniform before the sight of her body became too much.

* * *

Daniéle walked quietly into the Great Hall and had a seat next to Ginny and Max. 

"Hey guys."

"Hey Daniéle, where have you been?" Ginny asked, really not paying much attention to her friends.

"Around, where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. You know, I could have really used someone to talk to these past few days," Daniéle said, looking at her redheaded friend continuously glance over her shoulder.

Daniéle waited for Ginny to answer, slowly feeling her patience wear thin. "Ginny, what the hell are you looking at? And is so important that you should be ignoring me when I'm talking to you?" Daniéle hissed to her friend.

"Oh Dani I'm sorry," Ginny said, her face reddening. "I'm not looking at anything; I'm just worried about the test Snape is giving today."

"WHAT?! What test? Damn it, what's it over? Max let me see your notes please," Daniéle questioned frantically.

"Sure," Max said, stopping the motion of buttering her roll, and reaching into her satchel.

"How do you not know about it?" Ginny asked, looking at Daniéle weirdly.

"First day of classes, forest, tripped, bit by professor, hospital wing, Dumbledore's office, mate, promise kiss turned into real kiss, had to dump Leander, living with Sir—Professor Black now," Daniéle said, in one quick breath while grabbing pealing an orange, and looking over Max's potion notes.

"Huh? Could you say that again, slowly this time," Ginny asked, wide-eyed. "Why exactly are you living with Sirius? And what's this whole mate thing, whose mate? What's going on?" Ginny asked loudly, completely confused.

Daniéle grimaced as she watched heads gather together, whispering, and shooting unconcealed glances at her.

"Thanks for that Ginny," Daniéle said sarcastically.

"What?"

"Really Ginny, where have you been?" Max asked, looking at her redheaded friend with a peeved expression. "Daniéle tripped in the forest the day the griffin attacked, had some weird process happen, which left her as Professor Black's mate," Max said, waving her buttered roll around, speaking as though things like that happened all of the time.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ginny asked.

"How could I have told you when you were MIA? Which leads us back to the original question of where have you been?" Daniéle asked, biting down on a piece of orange.

"Come on, we have class," Ginny said, avoiding the question. "Is that all you're eating Daniéle?"

"Yeah, I'm on a diet."

Daniéle's shoulders dropped as she heard her two best friends laughing.

"What?" she asked angrily.

"What's this? Diet number 53?" Max asked, fighting for breath.

"NO, its number 13," Daniéle said matter-of-factly and angrily.

"I give her 5-7 days," Ginny said to Max.

"See you have too much faith in her. A galleon says she last 3 days or less," Max said, making Daniéle pout.

"You're on," Ginny said, smiling widely.

"And you two wonder why I never last long on these diets. At least my sisters wait until I'm out of earshot to mock me."

The other two girls laughed, letting Daniéle lead the way to their first class of the day.

* * *

"How was your day love?" Sirius asked when Daniéle walked into their living quarters. 

"Murder. I think Snape is trying to murder me," Daniéle said dramatically.

"Did he threaten you?" Sirius asked in a cold voice, while standing quickly.

"No Sirius, I was just…no he didn't threaten my. But he did give an extremely hard test today, and I know I failed it; which is not good, because if I fail potions, I can't be a Healer. Again, not good. Because if I don't become a Healer, my family will be upset with me," Daniéle said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Is that the only reason you're becoming a Healer?" Sirius asked taking a seat beside her.

"I don't think so," Daniéle said, pausing for a moment to think. "I'm pretty sure it's not."

"Daniéle, if you don't want to be a Healer, then you shouldn't be one," Sirius said with a frown.

"But I do want to be one."

"But you just said you weren't sure."

"I…What does it matter, as long as my family is happy then I'm happy. And if me being a Healer will make them happy, then that's what I want to do."

Sirius looked at her for a hard moment, before letting the subject drop. He would eventually find out what she really wanted, and coax her into doing that instead; even if it meant his future in-laws hated him. He couldn't let her give up her dreams.

"Okay love, if that's what _you_ really want, then that's what you'll do. Now come on let me help you with your class work."

Daniéle smiled at Sirius, before pulling her satchel towards her, and gathering the necessary items.

* * *

Daniéle sighed softly as she felt Sirius's hand move softly up her thighs, settling on her swollen hips. His lips kissed hers in a hard and dominating way, sending electric circuits soaring through her body. 

Daniéle hissed as Sirius pulled her hips down roughly, while he thrust his hips into hers, letting her feel his excitement. Daniéle threw her arms around Sirius's neck, and pulled his head down to hers, kissing him with the same aching passion she felt between her legs.

Sirius's hands ripped harshly at the pinstriped pajamas shirt that Daniéle wore, making the buttons fly off haphazardly. His eyes widened as he saw her tight black bra that hid half of her breast from his view.

He moved one of his hands from Daniéle's hip, and let it travel to her shoulder. He gently slid her bra strap from her shoulder, and tenderly kissed the newly exposed area. His lips traveled from her shoulder, to the junction of her shoulder and neck. Sirius bit down, making Daniéle cry out in pain and pleasure.

As Sirius sucked the area harshly, his hand moved back to Daniéle's hip, and he once again repeated the action of thrusting into her body. Daniéle's head flew back and a cry of pleasure tumbled from her mouth.

Daniéle's bra was then removed from her trembling body, and tossed somewhere to the side. Sirius looked at her unclothed chest with rapt interest. He let his head fall to her right breast, and flicked his tongue out. Daniéle's body jolted violently and she cried out loudly, when she felt the wet warmth of Sirius's tongue wrap around her hardened nipple.

Her hands fumbled towards Sirius's boxers, and she attempted to nude him. Daniéle fumbled for a few moments, before Sirius's expert hands helped her in her task. Sirius then ripped Daniéle's knickers from her body, and she sucked in as she felt the sting of the elastic against her skin.

Sirius didn't waste a moment before moving one finger into Daniéle's hot body, making her mew with delight. Sirius watched Daniéle's face as he worked his finger inside of her body, before he added another. He watched as she succumbed to the mounting pressure that had begun to take over her body.

Daniéle's eyes closed, her body jumped from the bed, and her head dug deep into the mattress as she felt the tight pressure burst, and she moaned Sirius's name loudly as Sirius's fingers coaxed the orgasm from her heated body.

Daniéle's body jolted up from the bed. She looked around into the darkness sharply, as she breathed heavily. She looked down at her body, and was thankful to find that she was fully clothed and not wearing pinstriped pajamas.

Daniéle looked to the spot that Sirius usually slept in, and she was happy to find it empty, because that meant that he could have no idea about the dream that had just possessed her. She didn't have time to wonder about his whereabouts because at that precise moment Daniéle heard the bathroom door slide open.

Daniéle watched, with a horrified expression on her face, as Sirius walked out of the bathroom, steam pouring out, only wearing a towel. He looked simply breathtaking. Daniéle's eyes roamed Sirius's steamy body, as she wondered if his naked body pressed against hers would feel the same as it did in her dream.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow at Daniéle's sitting and heaving form. "Daniéle, love, you okay?"

Daniéle's head snapped to attention as she heard Sirius's voice. She moved her eyes to his forehead, skipping his eyes, afraid that if they had eye contact he would be able to see the scandalous dream and thoughts that ran through her head.

"I'm fine, just had a, a, a weird dream," she said, jumping as a shiver ran through her body.

"Bad dream?" Sirius questioned, moving to his drawer to find a pair of pajamas pants.

"Just weird," Daniéle said, trying to ignore the fact the towel was currently riding extremely low on Sirius's hips.

"Well," Sirius said, his back to Daniéle, "there's no need to dwell on it. But you should be getting to bed because I have plans for us tomorrow, well really later on today," he said, letting the towel drop from his body.

Daniéle's sucked in a cry that threatened to leave her mouth. She bit her lip to keep any other words or sounds from tripping off of her tongue as she saw Sirius's bare back in front of her. Daniéle's face reddened as she saw his firm arse in front of her, she quickly turned her head, hopping Sirius hadn't caught her ogling him.

Daniéle dropped her body to the bed, and looked towards the wall. She closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the naked wizard and begged sleep to take her away. Daniéle felt the bed dip and an arm rest softly on her waist.

"Love, you're looking a bit red," Sirius said, frowning softly at her. "Are you feeling alright?" he asked, placing a hand on her neck to test her temperature.

Daniéle's eyes flew open at the contact, "I'm quite alright," Daniéle said, smacking Sirius's hand until he removed it from her neck.

"If you say so," Sirius said, moving in for a kiss. Daniéle's eyes widened at the movement, and she tried her hardest to get out of the contact.

Sirius frown returned as he saw Daniéle's movements. "Come now, love, stop acting shy," Sirius said, taking her face in his hands, and placing a kiss on her lips.

Daniéle tried her hardest to ignore the soft lips that pressed against hers, but it was in vain because Sirius's lips were too soft and too skillful. Daniéle sank deep into Sirius's powerful kiss, her eyes closing as the feelings of bliss rested in her belly.

Sirius pulled away, a small smile present on his lips, as he looked at the girl in front of him. Daniéle's eyes were shut, her lips were slightly parted, and her hair was mussed all over her head, and to Sirius she was absolutely gorgeous.

He thought about continuing the kiss, and moving a bit further with her, but although he wanted her badly, he didn't want to scare her back into resenting him. So instead, Sirius placed one soft kiss to Daniéle's lips, and pulled her body tightly to his, while whispering goodnight.

* * *

**Please REVIEW!**

**And Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it.**


	14. People Are Just People

Chapter 11—People Are Just People

**Chapter 11—People Are Just People**

_People are just people  
They shouldn't make you nervous  
The world is everlasting  
It's coming and it's going  
If you don't toss your plastic  
The streets won't be so plastic  
And if you kiss somebody  
Then both of you'll get practice_

The world is everlasting  
Put dirtballs in your pockets  
Put dirtball's in your pockets  
And take off both your shoes  
Cause people are just people  
People are just people  
People are just people like you

_--Regina Spektor "The Ghost of Corporate Future"_

"Where exactly are we going?" Daniéle asked, for the tenth time; hoping that this time she would actually get an answer.

"Don't worry about it love," Sirius said, smiling down at her, and kissing the hand that rested in his softly.

"How can I not worry about it?" she asked grumpily, beginning to get fed up with the situation. And Sirius's deep chuckle only served to anger her further.

"We're going to have a nice time. That's it. There's nothing to worry about, or get angry about, pet."

"Pet?" Daniéle asked looking at him, with a newly groomed eyebrow raised.

"What?" Sirius asked, confused by her expression.

"I'm not a pet. I'm a woman, not an animal," she said, speaking slowly as if explaining herself to a child.

Sirius frowned at her, and felt the griffin stirring around down in the pit of stomach; scratching around and throwing its head about fiercely. It snarled at Sirius to put Daniéle in her place.

"Don't," Sirius warned calmly.

"Don't what?" Daniéle questioned, for some reason she felt the need to argue. She was angry with Sirius; although, she knew she really had no reason to be.

"Don't speak to me that way," he said, gritting his teeth at her insubordination. He felt the griffin stretching out inside of himself, as if getting ready for the fight. But Sirius was determined to not let it get that far.

"I'll speak to you any way I want. I don't want to be here, I want to go back to Gryffindor Tower and spend time with my friends. I hardly ever see them anymore," Daniéle replied snippily. Daniéle continued to rant about any and everything that she could think of that was bothering her about Sirius and their relationship.

Sirius stood there very quietly, trying desperately to still the animal stirring within him, but the more Daniéle argued, the more the griffin inside began to rear its proud and angry head. Until finally, Sirius's control snapped.

Sirius turned around swiftly and grabbed Daniéle roughly by her upper arms. He pulled her body from the ground and brought her face to a mere centimeter from his.

Daniéle yelped in surprise, not fully registering the pain from his grip because everything moved so fast.

"Shut up. Okay? Just shut up," Sirius said in shouted, shaking her roughly with each word he spoke, his eyes completely black with rage.

"Now you will stop all of this complaining because you've got it very good. Do you understand this? Extremely good. I treat you with the utmost respect, when I am given it. And I love you. Do you understand that? I love you more than anyone else will, and especially more than that whelp ever could. I know what you need, what you want, and I give it to you. You wanted to slow the relationship down, so I did. You're not ready to have a sexual relationship, and I don't push you, even though that is the only thing that will truly save my life. Do you understand that?" Sirius asked angrily, his voice a controlled whisper. When he received no answer, he shook Daniéle angrily. "Do you understand that? Do you understand that the only thing that will keep me from dieing is having sex with you, making love to you, fucking you, whatever you want to call it? That is the only thing that will keep me from dieing."

Daniéle stared fearfully at Sirius, and whimpered when his fingers tightened painfully on her arm. And try as she might, she couldn't keep the tears from slipping from her face when he referred to their impending sexual relationship.

"Stop crying," Sirius said roughly, as he put her back on the ground and let her arms go, but the evidence of their conversation was still present. There on her arms were angry, red hand marks.

"Come on, we're going to be late," Sirius said in a tight voice, trying to calm himself and the griffin down. "When we get there, I want you to go into the bathroom, and fix your face. You need to make a good impression."

Daniéle merely nodded, and stayed silent for the rest of the trip and kept her eyes trained on the road or ahead of her.

Sirius and Daniéle made it to the Leaky Cauldron without any other incidents, and while Sirius went to the table where his lunch date was, Daniéle headed straight for the restroom to "fix her face."

Daniéle walked into the bathroom, and straight to the mirror. She looked at herself and just stared at her reflection. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Sirius had never done anything like that before, and she wasn't ashamed to admit that she was afraid of him.

"_And someone is calling my name from the back of the restaurant. And someone is playing a game in the house that I grew up in. And someone will drive her around, down the same streets that I did, on the same streets that I did. Smile like you mean it, smile like you mean it,"_ she sang quietly to herself, trying to gather the strength to walk out of the bathroom, and play nice with Sirius and whoever she was supposed to be meeting.

Daniéle pulled out her wand and erased the tear stains, her red rimmed eyes, and the black stains of her eyeliner. She reached into her purse and pulled out her make up supplies to return her face to the state that it was before the episode with Sirius. She reapplied her eyeliner (which she tucked into her eyelashes, making the line as thin as possible), mascara, bronzer, blush, and put on a fresh coat of lipstick and lip gloss. She took her time because the longer she stayed in the bathroom, the more time she had to mentally prepare herself for whatever Sirius had in store.

Daniéle looked at herself in the mirror, and she was pleased with the end result. She truly loved the fine art of make up. Her face was perfect, her eyes naturally done, which allowed her lips, which were a sexy siren red, to take the center stage of her face. When she was fully satisfied with her appearance, she took a deep breath and moved for the door, only to be stopped by a series of sharp pains in her abdomen.

"Damn," Daniéle moaned, doubled over in pain. She knew this pain all too well. And she wished she could go straight to Madam Pomfrey and get a potion to help alleviate menstrual cramps. Daniéle sucked in a deep breath, and tried to breath through the pain. She knew if she didn't get out to Sirius soon he would be very angry with her, and the last thing she wanted was a repeat of earlier.

She stood straight, took in a deep breath and released slowly, smiling to herself in reassurance. _"Smile like you mean it,"_ she sang quietly, leaving the bathroom in search of Sirius.

Daniéle exited the restroom and looked around the pub in search of her professor. She saw him sitting with two people towards the back of the pub, and made her way over to them quickly.

Sirius stood with a small smile when he saw Daniéle walking over towards him. His eyes fell to the two forming bruises on her arms, and he felt guilt begin to settle in the pit of his stomach. He should have fought harder to tame the griffin, he thought to himself, and he vowed to himself that there would be no repeat performance.

"There you are love, I was starting to get worried," Sirius said amicably. He bent down to Daniéle's level, and placed a kiss to her head. He frowned sadly when Daniéle flinched at the gesture. But he nonetheless smiled at his guests and at her when she sat in the chair besides his.

"Daniéle, I want to introduce you to my godson Harry, and his fiancé Hermione. I know you guys went to Hogwarts for a few years together, but I'm not exactly sure if you guys ever met," Sirius said. Harry and Hermione smiled brightly at Daniéle in greeting.

Daniéle smiled shyly, nodding her head at two of the people who were the saviors to the Wizarding World. Yes, she had gone to school with them, but she had never sat down with them, and she had completely forgotten that Sirius was the godfather to Harry Potter.

As Sirius, Harry, and Hermione talked easily with one another, Daniéle found it hard to join into the conversation because she couldn't relate to anything they were talking about and she had no frame of reference to the conversation being held. So she just drifted off in her mind, nodding and smiling at different intervals of the conversation, while wishing she had her journal handy to jot a few notes and feelings down.

"Daniéle, I really like your lipstick," Hermione said, noticing that Daniéle had been silent throughout the entire lunch.

"Thanks, it's called Russian Red. It's MAC," Daniéle said, smiling happily that someone had noticed the effort it took her to create the perfect red lips.

"Well I don't like it," Sirius said with a frown, "I mean, don't get me wrong pet," Sirius said, raising an eyebrow when he saw Daniéle cringe at the name, "you look beautiful. But you don't need make up; you're very beautiful without it."

"Actually Sirius, I have acne scarring and make up helps to hide it. And besides I like make up, it makes me happy," she said with an edge to her voice.

"I just think…."

"Well maybe you shouldn't think of my face if it causes you such problems," Daniéle said frowning.

"Look, don't take that tone with me. You don't need make up."

"And you don't need to talk about things you know nothing about. When was the last time you wore make up?"

"Nev—"

"Exactly."

"Daniéle, look…."

But before Sirius could finish his sentence, Daniéle had grabbed her handbag and went back into the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror, and she really hated to do what she was about to do, but she knew that it was for the best.

"What was that all about Sirius?" Harry asked amused.

Sirius sighed angrily, hating that he Daniéle was acting like this in front of his guest. He hated the fact that all of the ground that he was making with her was being ruined by her stubbornness.

"Did the two of you have a fight before you got here or something?" Hermione asked.

Sirius was assaulted with a memory of his angry encounter with Daniéle and he was embarrassed and ashamed by his behavior, but he wasn't about to let his present company know about what happened between the two.

"You could say that."

"What was it about?" Harry asked.

"Oh about this and that really," Sirius replied evasively.

"Did have anything to do with how rushed your relationship is?" Hermione asked.

"Rushed? How is it rushed?" Sirius asked exasperatedly.

"Come on Sirius," Harry asked laughing at his godfather.

"You know it's rushed. And have been completely understanding of her situation?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"What? Yes! Yes I have."

"Are you sure?"

"Well I mean…I try to, but…"

"Well try a little harder," Hermione said. "I know it can't be easy for you, you've changed into something that you don't fully understand and you can't fully control. You don't want to lose control, and do something that you might regret," Hermione said.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked suspiciously, thinking that maybe Hermione had noticed the bruises on Daniéle's arms.

"I've done a bit of reading on griffins and griffons—"

"A bit of light reading?" Harry asked with a laugh.

"Oh hush you, without my light reading you wouldn't have graduated from Hogwarts," Hermione said making a face at him, making Harry laugh. "But like I was saying, I've read about them, and in all but one of the cases reported of griffons, which there are only a few, the griffon couldn't control the griffin within, and ended up letting their anger and the griffin control the situation, and the infected person killed their partner by accident. And if the two had not mated yet, the person died as well. And even if the two had mated, the surviving partner died from grief." Hermione said.

Sirius jaw clenched at this new information. And he wondered why Dumbledore hadn't supplied him with this information.

"I…" Sirius chocked out. "I'm trying…but…"

"You lost control, and that's why those bruises are on Daniéle's arm. It's also the reason why Daniéle's been so distant today," Hermione supplied knowingly.

"Sirius," Harry said, looking at his godfather with shock. "What happened?" he asked, hoping that he had a good explanation because he was not ready to let his godfather down from the pedestal he had placed him on.

"I…she…she just wouldn't stop complaining and harping and nagging about how she didn't want to be with me, and she wasn't getting to spend enough time with her friends, and she missed that fuck up of a boyfriend she had before me. I tried, but I couldn't stop it from happening. I lost it," Sirius said with shame.

Hermione was about to respond, but she was interrupted by Daniéle.

"Alright Sirius, since you didn't like my make up from before how do you feel about this?" she asked sitting down, and turning her body to face him.

Sirius eyes went wide in shock as he looked at Daniéle. "Well, it's…it's…it's different," Sirius said, fighting to keep a straight face.

Daniéle had drawn four large red X's on her face: one on each cheek, one on her forehead, and one on her chin. She had also drawn a series of small X's along her nose.

"I'm glad that you like it, you're right this look is a lot better than the one I had before."

"What do you think Harry? Hermione?" Daniéle said turning from a speechless Sirius.

"I think the first one was quite fine Daniéle, I don't see why you changed it," Hermione said with her mouth open in shock. Harry merely nodded in agreement with Hermione.

"Alright, kitten, alright. You've proved your point," Sirius said, allowing the laughter to flow from his face. "I shouldn't tell you how to wear your make up."

Daniéle wrinkled her nose at being called kitten. "What is with you and these names?"

"What, I think it's a cute nickname. And kittens like to cuddle," Sirius said, pulling Daniéle to him, and rubbing his nose into her neck. Daniéle pushed him away with an exasperated sigh. "You're very weird," she said, looking at him with a small smile.

Sirius winked at her before adding, "_And_ dogs chase kittens," he said with a roguish smile.

"You are so very weird. What do dogs have to do with anything?" She asked looking at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough," he replied mysteriously.

"Well I'm going to go and fix my make up," Daniéle said, before getting up and leaving the table.

Sirius and Daniéle bid Harry and Hermione goodbye, before they began their walk back to the Castle. Both parties were silent, but for different reasons. Sirius was trying to figure out a way to apologize for his behavior towards Daniéle, and Daniéle was trying to make sure that she didn't say anything that would upset Sirius because she was still afraid from his behavior earlier.

"Daniéle," Sirius began, but he was stopped by Daniéle.

"Sirius I was wondering if it would be alright if I go and visit Max and Ginny? I hardly see them except for class and meal times, and I really miss them. Besides we need to go over our homework assignments to make sure we got everything right." Daniéle said her lip between her teeth in nervousness, afraid that he would snap again.

"That's fine Daniéle. I'm sorry for keeping you from them, I don't try to. I guess I haven't really thought about your needs that much these past few days. But I'm going to visit Remus, and after that we need to talk about everything. I have some things that I need to explain to you, and I owe you an apology, actually a few, but now is not the time. Can you be back in a few hours?" Sirius said, while looking into her eyes.

"That's fine Sirius, I'll see you later," Daniéle said, before jogging off towards the Castle and leaving Sirius behind.

"Bye," Sirius called quietly. He walked slowly back to the Castle and to Remus's quarters.

**I am extremely sorry for the long wait. I've been having some severe issues with this and all of my other stories. I think I am going to go through and make a few edits to HP and FO. I will announce it when it happens so you guys can go and reread it. But I hope I can get a few reviews, I know I have no right in asking for them, but they make me happy.**

**But on the upside, I am working on chapter 12 and already it has 2 typed pages and a number of freehand pages, so I'm hoping to have at least 6 pages done already. I've read through the story and found my holes and I know what things need to be answered, and I know I need to get a move on with their relationship, but I don't want to rush them.**

**Her Protector: I am going to redo chapter 22 because the ending messed up everything. I think that's why I've been so blocked because I had plans for certain things to happen in their attempt to rescue Jessica, but the way I wrote chapter 22 wouldn't allow that to happen. So I apologize for this.**

**SOME OF THE PREQUEL THAT JK ROWLING WROTE HAS BEEN POSTED. IT CAN BE FOUND HERE: **

/harry-potter-news/potter-prequel-now-available-online-read-updated-57160/

**I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD SHARE BECAUSE IT'S CANON SIRIUS WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER!**


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